Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines—While he may have eventually backed out, Vice President Jejomar Binay could be charged with conspiracy to commit rebellion in the 2007 “Manila Peninsula siege,” Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Friday.
Santiago said that merely agreeing and deciding to rise publicly and take up arms against the government for purposes of rebellion was punishable as it constituted the crime of conspiracy to commit rebellion.
This is punishable by imprisonment of four years, two months and one day to six years, and a fine not exceeding P5,000 under Article 136 of the Penal Code, said the former trial court judge.
“Thus, it was immaterial that Binay allegedly failed to mobilize the supporters, and was nowhere to be seen during the Manila Pen siege,” she said in a statement.
The 10-year prescriptive period for the crime has not lapsed, she said.
She said the crime prescribes in 10 years from discovery, which means the government has until 2017 to prosecute the offender since the siege happened in 2007.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV recently disclosed that Binay, as mayor of Makati, conspired with Magdalo renegade soldiers to mount an attempt to unseat then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2007.
He said Binay failed to deliver on his promise to gather a crowd of supporters for the soldiers who walked out of a court hearing to seek the overthrow of the Arroyo administration. They holed themselves up at the Manila Peninsula Hotel before surrendering.
Binay’s camp dismissed Trillanes’ claim, accusing him of rewriting history with a revisionist version of the siege.
Trillanes made the disclosure after Binay backed out of a debate that he sought with the senator.
Tension has risen between the two since Trillanes called for a Senate inquiry into the allegedly overpriced P2.28-billion Makati carpark which began construction in 2007 when Binay was mayor.
For weeks now, Binay has been fending off allegations of corruption and ill-gotten wealth aired against him in the Senate hearings.
Santiago said that Trillanes, other players in the Manila Pen siege and their civilian supporters were granted amnesty by President Benigno Aquino in 2010.
The amnesty did not apply to Binay, she said.
She said Binay should have applied for amnesty with the Department of National Defense, in accordance with Presidential Proclamation No. 75.
The proclamation granted amnesty to officers and men who took part in the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny, February 2006 Marine stand-off and November 2007 Manila Pen siege.
The application for amnesty expired on March 31, 2011, Santiago said.
The Magdalo soldiers were detained for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny in Makati against the Arroyo administration and were being tried for staging a coup d’etat at the Makati City Regional Trial Court.
Trillanes said his group reached out to Binay, then with the opposition, on their plan to mount the revolt in the office of the judge handling the soldiers’ trial. The court is in the same building as the Makati City Hall.
Binay promised to mobilize the employees of Makati City Hall, the urban poor, the students of the University of Makati, even the Makati traffic enforcers and police, Trillanes said.
On the eve of the revolt, the soldiers managed to bring in their firearms into the city hall, Trillanes said.
But the next day, when the Magdalo soldiers had walked out of their trial, Binay and his promised group of supporters were a no-show, he said.