Panel to start mutiny probe on Aug. 12

The six-member Feliciano Commission investigating the July 27 Makati mutiny opens on Tuesday public hearings on the case of some 300 soldiers and their possible civilian benefactors in the failed rebellion.

At least 45 persons are expected to testify for the entire duration of investigation, which is expected to be a long and "tedious" process.

Panel member Prof. Carolina Hernandez, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines, said their mandate is to determine "root causes and provocation" of the officers and soldiers who took part in the siege of the Oakwood Premier hotel.

Hearings are open to the public and will start at exactly 9 a.m. but the hearing room will be closed afterwards.

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez will be the panel’s first witness along with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr., if available. The panel wants to limit the number of witnesses to three per hearing day.

The Commission is now temporarily holding office at the Central Bank building in Malate, Manila but will later transfer to the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City for the hearings.

"We want to complete this investigation as quickly as possible," said Hernandez. "But if we stumble on some big information then more persons would be summoned."

Hernandez said Golez will be the first to testify so they can get background information on the issue but this will in no way affect their objectiveness.

She added that mutiny leaders will also not be called right away as part of their "strategy" to ferret out the truth.

"You cannot call these people right away. We have to determine the why and where before we jump in," she said. The panel will also review television footage of the siege before Tuesday.

The UP professor, who was also part of the Davide Commission that investigated the 1989 coup d’etat, said they do not have a time frame for their investigation but noted the earlier panel took a year to complete its probe.

Hernandez said that although the recommendations of the Davide Commission became useless as those they recommended to be charged were granted amnesty in 1995, she sees a different "window of opportunity" for reforms this time because many institutes of better governance are now in place.

"I think the President (Arroyo) is very serious to undertake reforms," she said.

The panel, however, is yet to receive funding as it is presently merely relying on the Central Bank for its meals and office needs.