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Former senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan, who is facing charges over his alleged involvement in the failed Oakwood mutiny in July 2003, could have the charges against him downgraded.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday told reporters that his office is now reviewing the petition earlier filed by Honasan, who ran in the recent senatorial elections.

“I am reviewing (the petition),” Gonzalez said. “(It is) possible that (the charges) will be downgraded. All the while, Honasan is claiming that he is not guilty.”

Earlier, in a 43-page petition for review filed by his lawyer, Daniel Gutierrez, Honasan asked Gonzalez to nullify and set aside the resolution of a panel of prosecutors indicting him for coup d’etat.

Honasan said what happened at that time was not a coup because the 300 junior military officers who were at the Oakwood hotel were merely airing their grievances against the government and that he had never instigated the soldiers who called themselves the Magdalo group to take such action.

According to Honasan, had the Oakwood incident been a coup d’etat under the definition of the Revised Penal Code, his absence during the Oakwood takeover should be enough basis to prove that he was not the Magdalo group’s leader.

Citing Article 134-A of the Revised Penal Code, Honasan said a coup d’etat is defined by “a swift attack accompanied by violence, intimidation, threat, strategy or stealth, directed against the duly constituted authorities of the Republic or any military camp or installation, communications networks, public utilities or other facilities needed for the exercise and possession of power.”

“Seizing Oakwood Premier Hotel is not attacking a duly constituted government authority,” Honasan said. “Declaring a withdrawal of support from the government and the AFP chain of command is not attacking any duly constituted government authorities much less does it constitute attacking by violence, intimidation, threat, strategy or stealth duly constituted government authorities.