Pasay court denies motion of convicted Indonesian bomber

A Pasay city judge denied yesterday the motion for reconsideration of an Indonesian to reverse his conviction for illegal possession of explosives.

But Judge Henrick Gingoyon of Pasay City Regional Trial Court branch 117 said he was "baffled" why the investigating prosecutor freed Jamal Balfas and Tamsil Linrung, two of Agus Dwikarna’s co-accused, when the evidence against the three are similar.

"Anyone is free to speculate on the reason for this unusual resolution," he said. "One reason could be what the accused considered as the ‘international significance’ of this case and the ‘political power play of governments’, the power play being actively participated most logically by the government who wanted to see accused’s two companions free."

After the charges against them were dropped, Balfas and Linrung were released on orders of President Arroyo on the request of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Last July 12, Gingoyon gave Dwikarna a 17-year jail term and fined him P50,000 after finding him guilty of illegal possession of explosives.

In his motion, Dwikarna, who is from Sulawesi island, said the court failed to consider the following:

• A supposed "mission order" and the unusual presence of government agents as "evidence of a frame-up."

• Its failure to consider the dropping of Balfas and Linrung from the information, which "constitutes a reasonable doubt" of his guilt since all three of them are "similarly situated."

However, Gingoyon said Dwikarna’s argument is a "fallacy" because the dropping of Balfas and Linrung from the information would not constitute a reasonable doubt on his guilt.

Gingoyon rejected the 35-year-old Dwikarna’s contention that the court failed to consider inconsistencies in the testimony of some prosecution witnesses.

Gingoyon said he relied mainly on the testimony of a professional and well-trained chemist from the Philippine National Police crime laboratory.

Gingoyon also said the "mission order" which Dwikarna presented in court was a copy, which did not state the name of the person who purportedly issued it.

"(The mission order) was an orphan crying for a surrogate parent," read part of Gingoyon’s decision.

The people to whom the "mission order" was supposed to have been issued did not also take the witness stand and identify its "provenance" and testified on its genuineness and due execution, he added.

Dwikarna, who claimed to be deputy secretary and treasurer of the Partai Amanat Nasional, said Balfas and Linrung were arrested because they belonged to the political opposition in Indonesia.

Partai Amanat is a political party of an Indonesian presidential hopeful, he added.

In his Aug. 2 supplemental pleading, Dwikarna said he cannot be convicted of a crime which according to the information was committed on March 13, 2001 because the prosecution had presented evidence that he committed the crime on March 13, 2002.

However, Gingoyon said the difference in dates was "a mere typographical error" and that Dwikarna was aware that he could not have committed the crime on March 13, 2001.

"Because he first set foot in the country on 2002," read part of the decision.

At Malacañang, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said yesterday terrorist threats could not force the government to free Dwikarna and another jailed Indonesian, Fathur Al-Ghozi.

"Al-Ghozi has already been convicted of illegal possession of firearms," he said.

"Right now, he is undergoing additional interrogation on possible involvement on other activities. We have no doubt of Al-Ghozi being guilty of some terrorist act.

"Agus Dwikarna is still detained. He was convicted of illegal possession of firearms and explosives under Presidential Decree 1866, as amended," he said.

Golez said PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. has ordered security doubled in the detention cells of Dwikarna and Al-Ghozi, following the terrorist bombing at the Philippine Consulate in Manado, Indonesia.

"We will keep (Dwikarna)," he said. "But if we release (Al-Ghozi) and he was able to escape, then they will say this place is a very soft place for them."