DOJ indicts 3 in foiled NAIA attack

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted three suspects in the foiled attack at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAA) last Sept. 1, reportedly by a disgruntled group wanting to demonstrate their anger against China.

Charges of illegal possession of incendiary devices were filed against Grandeur Pepito Guerrero, Emmanuel San Pedro and Sonny Yohanon, reportedly members of US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) of former presidential nuisance candidate Ely Pamatong, Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, chief of DOJ’s prosecutorial arm, said yesterday.

Arellano said the case for violation of Section 3 of Presidential Decree 1866, as amended by Republic Act 9516, was filed before the Pasay City regional trial court last Sept. 23 after preliminary investigation showed probable cause on the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

“It cannot be disputed that all the respondents knew that the Toyota Revo they were riding was loaded with incendiary devices, composed of firecrackers-strapped bottles of gasoline, which were not surreptitiously hidden but were plainly exposed at the back of the vehicle,” read the 10-page resolution by Assistant State Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes.

Not terrorists

The DOJ, however, did not file charges of terrorism or destabilization against the respondents.

“While the NBI alleged (that the suspects) planned to terrorize and destabilize, the same however, was not supported by concrete evidence. Aside from their bare allegations based on ‘information,’ no other evidence was adduced to substantiate the claim that respondents are part of a group intended to cause chaos through a series of bombings,” it stressed.

The DOJ also dismissed the charge for illegal possession of firearms against the respondents since the NBI failed to submit proof that the firearms seized from them were not licensed.

Pamatong was not invited to the DOJ probe even after he earlier publicly admitted that the arrested men belonged to his USAFFE and that he influenced them into committing such action.

He clarified that he was advocating “legal means” to pursue their cause.

Pamatong was arrested two days after the foiled attack – not in connection with the incident but pursuant to an outstanding arrest warrant against him for an inciting to sedition case stemming from the threats he issued against the previous administration during a television interview a few days after allegedly ordering the so-called “spike attack” in 2004. The spike attack involved throwing caltrops along some roads in Metro Manila.

He was also not named as respondent in the charge sheet filed by the NBI.

Pamatong’s lawyer, Oliver Lozano, earlier said he believed that his clients were just fall guys in a supposed destabilization plot and could be part of a grand plan of those supporting the proposal to amend the constitution and allow President Aquino to run for another term as president in 2016.

Lozano even pointed to Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice as the probable culprit.