MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III and other senior government officials were charged with treason in the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday over the bungled police operation to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province.
Forty-four Special Action Force commandos were killed by Moro rebels in the Jan. 25 operation, which also triggered calls for Mr. Aquino’s resignation.
Also named respondents in the complaint filed by lawyer Homobono Adaza and newspaper columnist Herman Tiu Laurel were Senate President Franklin Drilon, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita Deles and government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Murad Ebrahim, his vice chair for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar and the head of its peace panel, Mohagher Iqbal, were likewise included in the charges.
Besides the Mamasapano incident, Adaza and Laurel said the President should be held liable for treason for supporting the peace agreement with the MILF and the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which, they argued, was unconstitutional.
Under the American-era edict Revised Penal Code, any individual who “owing allegiance to… the (Philippines), not being a foreigner, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort within the Philippine Islands or elsewhere” could be indicted for treason.
It carries a penalty of death and payment of a fine not more than P100,000.
In their six-page complaint, Adaza and Laurel said: “BBL, as submitted by respondent (Aquino) to Congress, with support and endorsement by his fellow… treasonous coconspirators, is blatant violation of several provisions of the Constitution.”
“It would redefine the provision of Article 1 of the Constitution on national territory and national sovereignty since it grants part of the national territory to the Bangsamoro and also powers of sovereignty which are indivisible,” a portion of the complaint read.