De Lima: Oust-Aquino plotters courting criminal raps
MANILA, Philippines – The National Transformation Council (NTC) is courting criminal cases for fomenting a military-backed uprising against the government, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said in a statement Sunday.
“The NTC has carefully formulated this strategy in the false hope of propagating it legally in the mass media and among supporters without however accruing any criminal liability under the penal laws on rebellion, sedition, and coup d’ etat,” de Lima said.
She said NTC’s activities can be “contemplated as conspiracies relating to sedition, rebellion or coup d’ etat.”
Former National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, an active member of NTC, said their group is calling for President Benigno Aquino III to resign.
The movement started in August last year in Batangas and Cebu.
The NTC has publicly declared in its meetings and so-called consultations that a people power strategy for regime change can only be successful if backed by the military that would pave the way for the installation of the National Transformation Council as a “transition government.”
Under the NTC, elections or any other democratic process sanctioned under a constitutional government would be suspended, until the enactment of reforms to be determined by the council as the de facto government of the Republic.
According to de Lima, the NTC strategy is illegal and unconstitutional.
“The installation of the NTC as the governing body of the Republic is nothing but the installation of a civilian-military junta, and the call for the military’s support for its defense and installation is nothing less than a proposal or conspiracy to commit the crime of coup d’etat,” de Lima said.
She said NTC’s pronouncements and publicly declared strategy for the capture of state power through active military involvement already constitute conspiracy or proposal to commit rebellion and coup d’ etat (Art. 136 in relation to Arts. 134 and 134-A, Revised Penal Code), conspiracy to commit sedition (Art. 141 in relation to Art. 139, RPC) or, at the very least, inciting to sedition (Art. 142, RPC), as well as illegal assemblies (Art. 146, RPC).
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