By Ellen Tordesillas
March 27, 2009

At the court martial hearing of the 28 officers accused of mutiny for a February 2006 non-event last Feb. 26, it was agreed that the next hearing would be on March 10, 2009.

A day before March 10, the lawyers of the accused were notified that the hearing would be on March 20. No explanation was given why the agreed hearing on March 10 would not push through.

March 20 came and all the lawyers and the accused (except for two officers) were present at the Daza Park hall in Camp Aguinaldo. But there were only three members of the panel who would be hearing the case: Maj. Gen. Jogy Fojas, Commodore Ramon Punzalan and law member Col. Marian Aleido, when there should at least be four of them to constitute a quorum. One member was out of the country. Even the trial judge advocate could not explain the absence of the other members of the panel.

Atty. Vic Verdadero, counsel of Brig.Gen. Danny Lim and several other officers of the Scout Rangers, proposed to the court that they waive the quorum requirement so they can hold a hearing so as not to waste the time and effort of three witnesses who were present.

But the court played safe and decided that without a quorum, the hearing had to be adjourned. It was agreed that the next hearings would on March 24 and 26.

A day before March 24, the lawyers were notified that the hearing was cancelled. No explanation was given. Everybody looked forward to the Thursday hearing.

After that, nothing was heard from the Trial Judge Advocate that serves as the court’s secretariat. One lawyer, however, called the TJA Wednesday afternoon and was told that there would be no hearing the next day. No reason was given.

As of today, no hearing has been scheduled.

The right to speedy trial is a supreme human right that the Constitution mentioned twice in the Bill of Rights.Section 14, paragraph two, states that “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved and shall enjoy the right…to have a speedy, impartial trial…

Section 16 underscores that right again: “All persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases before all judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies.”

The dictionary defines speedy as “ accomplished rapidly and without delay”. The accused have been in detention for three years. They submitted themselves to military justice and they are ready to accept whatever is the decision. But undue delay is something difficult for them to take.

Col. Aleido reasoned out that the defense lawyers were also to blame that the trial of this case had gone this long with their motions during the early stage of the proceedings. The defense lawyers quickly took exception saying that it was the delay in giving the accused the copies of the Pre-Trial Investigation Report and the Pre-Trial Advice that delayed the proceedings.

It took the Trial Judge Advocate five months to give the defense the PTIR and another three months to give the unsigned copy of the PTA which were the basis of the charges against the officers. “Surely, we cannot proceed without our knowing what’s the basis of the charges against our clients,” Verdadero said.

Atty. Rogelio Bagabuyo, counsel for Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, never tires of reminding the court that every day of delay in trial is a grave injustice to the accused officers.