Retired generals, colonels join impeach fray

ANOTHER impeachment complaint against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to be filed today. This time, it’s the turn of 12 retired officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to do so even as at least ten more are expected to follow suit next week.

The complainants consist of four generals and eight full colonels led by retired Marine Major General Ponciano Millena, former Philippine Marine Corps commandant and former commanding general of the AFP Western Command in Palawan.

The other complainants are the following:

• Maj. Gen. Marciano Ilagan, former commander, Tactical Air Operations Command, Philippine Air Force (PAF);
• Maj. Gen. Vicente C. Belo, former commander, 2nd and 3rd Air Division, PAF;
• Brig. Gen. Edgardo Pantilla, former provost marshall general, Armed Forces of the Philippines and Commander, Air Force Reserve;
• Col. Victor F. Reyes, former chief G-7 of the Philippine Light Armor Brigade, Philippine Army (PA);
• Col. Honorato A. Serrano, former provost marshall of the Headquarters Service Group, PA;
• Col. Rolando B. Barola, former commanding officer, Special Service, PA;
• Col. Baylon Platon, chief security and senior aide de camp to the late Vice President Salvador ‘Doy’ Laurel, PA;
• Col. Gilbert Mercader, former commander of the Civil Disturbance Battalion, PAF;
• Col. Tony Cortes, former staff officer J-7, AFP General Headquarters;
• Col. Jesus B. Almojera, former commandant of the School for Combined Arms, General Staff College; and former commandant, 25th Infantry Battalion, PA; and
• Col. Angelito R. Oabel, former commanding officer of the 525th Engineering Battalion, PA.

Exercising their rights as citizens, the retired officers allege similar charges of culpable violations of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of the public trust against Arroyo filed earlier by citizens’ groups, including a Catholic bishop, in connection with the following:

• alleged massive cheating in the 2004 elections,

• the unabated murders of activists since she assumed power in 2001,

• her exercise of dictatorial powers shown in attempts to crack down on anti-government protests and to block investigations into allegations of wrongdoing,

• and entering into illegal government contracts and concealing her conjugal properties and business interests.

Millena is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1966. As commanding general of the 2nd Marine Brigade in Jolo, Sulu in 1995, he was responsible for the capture of five Abu Sayyaf leaders, including a young Khadafi Janjalani, who eventually took over the group from his slain brother, Abdurajak Janjalani.

As head of the AFP’s Tactical Air Operations Command, Ilagan was honored by Arroyo for taking charge of the air attack in Cabatangan, Zamboanga City against Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) renegades in November 2001.

Arroyo critics have resorted to a serial filing of the impeachment complaint after three complaints were summarily dismissed by the House of Representatives last year on a mere technicality — that only one impeachment complaint can be filed against an official each year.

Constitutional experts however say that what is prohibited is not the mere filing of impeachment complaints but the initiation of more than one impeachment proceeding. In the Francisco ruling, the Supreme Court clarified that the initiation of an impeachment proceeding takes place by the act of filing of the impeachment complaint and referral to the House Committee on Justice, thus barring the filing of another complaint against the same official within a one-year period.

Adding to the confusion is the uncertainty as to when the one-year bar lapsed this year. Arroyo lawyer Romulo Makalintal has also raised the issue of a pending petition before the Supreme Court questioning the decision of the House in junking the impeachment complaints as basis that any new impeachment complaint cannot be entertained this year.

Petitioners have already filed an urgent motion to ask the Court to decide on the unsettled issues of Arroyo’s impeachment last year.
Download the retired officers’ impeachment complaint against Arroyo here.