QC court still too busy to arraign Adaza et al.
By Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:33:00 07/09/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- A Quezon City court is likely to schedule next month the arraignment of former assemblyman Homobono Adaza and five former military and police officers who are charged with plotting to topple the government.
Quezon City Judge Samuel Gaerlan’s schedule for July is already full, said a member of his staff who asked not to be named as she was not authorized to talk with the media.
“Considering the documents about the case had just been brought here and Judge Gaerlan has yet to read it, the arraignment will probably be held in August,” the court employee said.
But Gaerlan may well issue the date of the arraignment on Wednesday, the court employee said.
The case, docketed as criminal case Q-08-152800 was raffled off to Gaerlan who has received the complaint sheet against Adaza and his co-accused, including retired Marine Col. Cesar de la Peña, former Army Col. Ernie Amboy, former Lt. Col. Oscarlito Mapalo and former police Supt. Rafael Cardeño.
Aside from the five, a certain Col. Edgardo Tapia, who remains at large, and other “John and Jane Does” are also charged with violating Article 136, or “proposal to commit coup d’etat,” of the Revise Penal Code.
Adaza, Amboy and De la Peña have posted bail and were released from police custody over the weekend.
Mapalo has yet to post bail while Cardeño is being held at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) detention cell in Camp Crame for a murder case. Cardeño had gone into hiding after he was accused of being behind the killing of renegade soldier Baron Cervantes.
Adaza and the others were separately charged with “obstruction of justice/harboring a fugitive” after they were arrested.
Cardeño was also charged with violating Article 178, or “using fictitious name/concealing true name,” of the Revised Penal Code, after he identified himself as “Randy Marbella” when CIDG agents arrested them last week.
The case stemmed from a complaint of lawyer Raymund Fortun who went to the CIDG after Adaza and his co-accused allegedly demanded $4 million (about P170 million) from his client, Motonori Sakuma, to finance a coup to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in exchange for favors “from the new government.”
Adaza and the other accused were arrested last July 2 in an entrapment operation while they were allegedly trying to extort money from Sakuma’s associate, Joanne Maria Laurilla, inside a room at the Crown Plaza Hotel in the Ortigas business district in Pasig City.
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