MANILA, Philippines -- Lawyers for military officers being tried for a failed 2003 uprising have again asked a Makati City court to subpoena President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other officials to testify on a military offensive in Mindanao they say was one of the reasons they mutinied.

If summoned, Arroyo will testify on her meeting with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, then a Navy lieutenant, weeks before members of the Magdalo group occupied the Oakwood serviced apartments in the Makati business district, about threats to his life and how he was placed under government protection.

Defense lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. filed on Thursday a five-page request for subpoena before Judge Oscar Pimentel of Makati Regional Trial Court branch 148.

“We will also ask the President to confirm certain statements she made after the February 2003 military offensive at the Buliok complex in North Cotabato about the Liguasan Marsh development plan,” he told reporters.

Defense lawyers have been claiming the offensive on the Buliok complex was commercially driven and was supposedly the reason for the Magdalo soldiers' staging the so-called Oakwood mutiny.

But the prosecution said it would file a formal opposition to the new request within five days, claiming new witnesses, including the President, would be irrelevant.

“The President has no relevance to the Oakwood mutiny. We are talking about the coup d'etat and not the [Buliok] offensive. The mutiny happened in Makati City, not North Cotabato,” said assistant prosecutor Juan Navera.

“That [Buliok offensive] has nothing to do with it [Oakwood mutiny]. It is totally irrelevant to the case,” he added.

Navera also pointed out that ordering the President to appear in court would be “a direct affront to the executive branch.”

He said the prosecution will be subjective in opposing the presentation of the new witnesses depending on the relevance of the witnesses' possible testimony in the four-year-old trial.

Navera also noted that lawyer Rene Saguisag filed last year a subpoena for the President, but Pimentel junked the request.

Other persons named in the new request for subpoena are: former Armed Forces chief of staff Narciso Abaya; former 6th Infantry Division commanding general Generoso Senga; 602nd Brigade former commander Cardozo Luna; Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesman Eid Kabalu or chairman Al Haj Ebrahim Murad; North Cotabato parish priest Fr. Roberto Layson; former 17th Marine Company commanding officer Captain Danilo Luna; former executive secretary Roberto Romulo; retired intelligence chief Victor Corpuz; ABS-CBN reporter Alvin Elchico; and Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) news editor Artemio Engracia.

The court had earlier issued a subpoena for ex-social welfare secretary Dinky Soliman and acting National Economic Development Authority director general Augusto Santos, also to testify on the Buliok offensive.

Both Soliman and Santos were not present at Thursday’s hearing.

Soliman was out of the country while Santos asked the court for a 15-day extension for him to present documents related to the Liguasan Marsh development plan, which he claimed were filed with his agency’s Zamboanga office.

Trillanes was not present at Thursday’s hearing. Only 12 of the accused showed up; the rest had waived their right to appear in court.

Meanwhile, the court and defense lawyers are mulling the possibility of a “severance of trial” to allow those accused who are done presenting their witnesses to have their trial terminated for an earlier promulgation.

Defense lawyer Theodore Te broached the idea after another Magdalo soldier manifested his impatience over the delays in the hearing.

Air Force 1st Lieutenant Ashley Acedillo followed the earlier line of Captain Milo Maestrecampo, who also complained about the slow pace of the trial.

“He noted that the trial had been dragging on and on, and by the time he is discharged, he hoped he still has enough time for a second career,” recalled Captain Carlo Ferrer, spokesperson of the National Capital Region Command.

It was this manifestation that spurred Te to bring up the idea of “severance of trial” during a closed chamber meeting with the judge and the other lawyers.

Under the arrangement, those accused who are finished with their presentation of witnesses will be allowed to an earlier promulgation.

“This is a win-win situation...I don't see how the accused can refuse this agreement,” said Trixie Angeles, lawyer for fugitive soldier Captain Nicanor Faeldon.

Francisco agreed, saying they are for anything “that could expedite the proceedings.”

“We will still have to consult with all our clients if they are for this severance of trial,” he added.

Angeles noted that “severance of trial” is usually done in court martial proceedings and is very rare in civilian courts.

“There are no rules in civilian courts that prevent this, however,” she said.

The prosecution meanwhile said it posed no objection to the severance once the court decides to adopt the measure to expedite the hearings.

“It was a great suggestion. If the accused will agree to it and file a motion for it, we will not object. We have no problem with that. Some of the accused are already complaining about the trial's delays,” Navera explained.

Among the accused who are done with their presentation of witnesses are Maestrecampo, Acedillo, Trillanes, 1st Lieutenant Lawrence San Juan and Captain Gerardo Gambala.

Francisco's clients -- Lieutenants Senior Grade Eugene Gonzalez, Andy Torrato and Manuel Cabochan, Lieutenant Junior Grade Arturo Pascua, 2nd Leiutenant Jonnell Sangalang, Ensigns Armand Pontejos, Julius Mesa and Cezari Gonzales -- meanwhile, have yet to present their witnesses.