Palace respects rejection of amnesty proclamation

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang welcomed yesterday the decision of a detained military officer to reject the amnesty proclamation of President Aquino.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Palace respects the decision of Maj. Jason Aquino of the 1st Army Scout Ranger Regiment in San Miguel, Bulacan.

“That’s his decision,” she said.

“If he thinks that the court will find him innocent, then we cannot stop him from availing of that remedy.”

Major Aquino’s lawyer Trixie Angeles said her client is confident that the court would acquit him of charges of taking part in a mutiny against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2006.

“He submitted himself to the legal processes and he intends to complete these processes with an end view that he will be exonerated,” she said.

The military officer has no relations, either by blood or by affinity, to President Aquino.

Major Aquino, who belongs to Philippine Military Academy Class of 1991, was among the 29 military officers arrested and charged over the failed February 2006 coup against Arroyo.

Major Aquino had chided the President for placing on the line the careers of junior military officers facing coup charges.

They could no longer return to military service once they avail of the amnesty, he added.

The President’s amnesty proclamation only allows enlisted personnel involved in three attempts to topple the Arroyo administration in July 2003, February 2006 and November 2007 to return to military service.

Major Aquino was the first Scout Ranger officer placed in solitary confinement for seven months in Tanay, Rizal, along with former Scout Ranger commander, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.

Major Aquino was singled out by the previous military leadership for being vocal about his call for reforms and changes in the Armed Forces and in the entire Arroyo administration.

Angeles said most of the senior officers charged and later cleared by the military are now back in the service.

It would be unfair for Major Aquino to avail of the amnesty and end up jobless, considering his innocence, she added.