Court allows bombing suspect to change plea

Suspected terrorist Hadji Yunos Moklis was allowed yesterday to withdraw his guilty plea after a Manila judge ruled that he could not have understood the consequences of his plea.

Judge Lucia Purugganan of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 54 said in her order last Oct. 14 that "the language barrier" between Moklis and his former lawyer has cast a "cloud of doubt" on his admission in open court to participation in the Dec. 30, 2000 Rizal Day bombings.

"That while accused uttered some words in Tagalog, it is not sufficient basis to conclude that he is knowledgeable and conversant of said dialect," she said.

Fidel Macauyag, Moklis’ new lawyer, said his client has been "coerced" into pleading guilty to the crimes of multiple murder and multiple attempted murder.

Macauyag also questioned the credibility of lawyer Onos Mangontara — a Maranao like Moklis — as an interpreter because he is an official of the National Bureau of Investigation, which is "part" of the prosecution panel.

Purugganan had set a new arraignment for Moklis, and the accused is expected to plead "not guilty" when that time comes.

However, State Prosecutor Peter Ong has asked that the arraignment be deferred because he would be filing a motion for the case to be transferred to a child and family court.

A move to a child and family court could be justified because some of the bombing victims were children, said lawyer Aida Arago, clerk of court of RTC Branch 54.

During arraignment last July 7, Moklis alias Saifullah Yunos pleaded guilty to multiple murder and multiple attempted murder.

Through Mangontara, the 31-year-old exclaimed "yes" when Purugganan asked if he understands that he could be sentenced to death for admitting to the blast, which had killed 22 people and injured 100 others.

Speaking in Maranao, Moklis admitted having helped plan the Dec. 30, 2000 attack, which he had earlier told prosecutors was in retaliation for a military offensive that President Joseph Estrada had ordered to drive the Moro Islamic Liberation Front out of its various strongholds in Central Mindanao.

"I have already admitted to everything in my sworn statement," he told the court through Mangontara.

Moklis was arrested at the Lumbia airport in Cagayan de Oro City last May 24 as he was about to board a plane for Manila with Egyptian Dia Algabre.

The attack at the Light Rail Transit station on Blumentritt street in Manila was one of five almost simultaneous bombings on Rizal Day of 2000.

Powerful bombs exploded simultaneously at the Blumentritt station, Plaza Ferguson in front of the US embassy in Manila; a passenger bus traveling along EDSA in Cubao, Quezon City, a cargo terminal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City, and an abandoned gas station near Dusit Hotel in Makati City. — Jose Aravilla