MANILA, Philippines -- The hearing was reset yet to another day and a military officer accused of involvement in the ?Oakwood mutiny,? unable to contain himself, assailed court proceedings as too slow, denying him justice.

Capt. Nilo Maestrocampo, one of the 31 accused of rebellion in connection with the armed takeover of the Oakwood Hotel in Makati City in July, 2003, manifested in court that the case, which had dragged on for four years, was taking too long to resolve and that the court should address the delays.

Assistant prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera said Maestrocampo spoke up in court to complain about the delays as the court again reset a hearing, this time to March 6.

The hearing was reset after Ambassador Roy Cimatu, who had been subpoenaed by Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 148, failed to appear in court.

State prosecutor Richard Fadullon said prosecutors were informed that Cimatu was in Ilocos to visit his sick father only Thursday, forcing a reset because Cimatu was unable to take the witness stand.

?I really do not any more have a 100-percent belief in the justice system. Justice delayed is justice denied,? Navera quoted Maestrocampo as saying.

Maestrocampo?s exasperation was confirmed by Capt. Carlo Ferrer of the National Capital Region Command, who said, ?He was asking when the hearing would be finished and that he was ready to face his verdict.?

Apparently feeling alluded to, defense lawyers branded Maestrocampo?s manifestation as ?selfish.?

?He is not the only one accused in this case. That is without basis. The defense has yet to present its evidence and we had four months so far, while the prosecution had four years,? lawyer Reynaldo Robles said.

Defense lawyers led by Robles and Ernesto Francisco Jr. are asking the court to subpoena three more witnesses in their attempt to prove that the soldiers occupied the Oakwood Hotel to express their grievances and was not meant to be a power grab.

The three witnesses are Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, at the time the defense secretary, National Economic and Development Authority Director General Augusto Santos, and former Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman.

Francisco said the three witnesses were to give an account of the government offensive in Buliok compound in Pikit, North Cotabato in February 2003, claiming that irregularities which attended the operation provoked the occupation of Oakwood.