Rep. Biazon: Garcia-Ombudsman deal could lead to coups

Former senator and current Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon on Tuesday warned that the government's plea-bargaining agreement with a former general accused of plunder might encourage soldiers to launch coup attempts.

At the military's 75th anniversary rites at Camp Aguinaldo, Biazon criticized the move of the Office of the Ombudsman to agree to a plea-bargain by former Armed Forces comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, who walked out from detention over the weekend after posting bail.

"If this is how the justice system is working in the country, we would not be surprised if there would be more 'Oakwood' incidents," said Biazon, a former military chief of staff.

The lawmaker was referring to the 2003 "Oakwood mutiny" by more than 300 disgruntled soldiers led by former Lt. Sr. Grade and incumbent Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Collectively known as the Magdalo group, the rebel soldiers took over the Oakwood towers in Makati City to protest alleged government corruption.

Biazon said Garcia's case gave credence to the Magdalo soldiers' allegations of corruption in the military. "Garcia's plea-bargain is a vindication of Trillanes and their Oakwood exercise," he said.

He also admitted that the Ombudsman's agreement to the plea was "a big blow to the morale of the soldiers."

Garcia is facing charges of plunder before the Sandiganbayan due to his family's unexplained wealth of more than P300 million, which he allegedly acquired through bribery while he was still in military service.

Garcia posted bail of P60, 000 last Friday after the Ombudsman allowed him to plead guilty to a lesser charge, with the prosecutor dropping the plunder case against him. He walked out of his detention cell at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Quezon City over the weekend.

Plunder is a non-bailable offense, but the anti-graft court allowed the former general to post bail after he pleaded guilty of direct bribery.

The court's move was supposedly part of his plea-bargain agreement with the government.

Biazon said Garcia's entering in a plea-bargain and also agreeing to pay half of his unexplained wealth was already "an admission of the commission of plunder and it's a heinous crime."

Asked who should be blamed why Garcia was able to walk free, Biazon said it was the "prosecutors and the Ombudsman's mistake."

'Just relax' - But former President Fidel Ramos was less pessimistic than Biazon, and allayed fears of future military attempts to grab power from the government.

Ramos said all military uprisings since the restoration in of democracy in the Philippines in 1986 had all failed.

"Ilang coup na iyan noong 1986 at 1990? May nag-succeed ba? Wala, and to think matitindi ang mga iyon. Patayan talaga. Pero we stopped all of them," Ramos said.

After abandoning then President Ferdinand Marcos during the EDSA People Power Revolution, Ramos was appointed as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 1986. He became Defense secretary in 1988 before winning as president in 1992.

"Relax lang tayo. Wala nang coup. They (soldiers) learned their lesson. Ang ating demokrasya ay mas matibay na ngayon," Ramos said on Tuesday.

Ramos assured the public that if there were any forms of "uprising" it would not definitely come from the military.

"This is now the game of the citizenry. Hindi na kasama ang mga sundalo diyan except to protect all of you," Ramos said.

"Iba na ang panahon ngayon, galing na tayo sa 14 years of dictatorship," the former President stressed.

House measure - Insisting on his criticism over government handling of Garcia's case, Biazon said he would file a House resolution to look into the controversial plea-bargaining agreement.

"By January, siguro, we'll conduct a hearing on it," he said.

President Benigno Aquino III has already ordered a review of the agreement, admitting he was never aware of the move of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said it was still possible that the impeachment complaints filed against the Ombudsman could still be revised to include the issue on the plea-bargain agreement.

"The House justice committee has the powers to amend the impeachment complaint versus Ombudsman Gutierrez as it sees fit... Nothing in the Constitution or the rules prohibits it," said Casiño, a member of the panel.

Casiño said amending an impeachment complaint had already been done in the case of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. None of the complaints so far filed against her had ever prospered, since her perceived allies dominated the House membership.

"Again, this will boil down to political will and getting the numbers," the progressive-party lawmaker said.

By LBG/KBK