Conviction

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The maximum penalty of up to 40 years in prison was imposed on Captains Gerardo Gambala and Milo Maestrecampo, junior army officers who were among the leaders of the 2003 “Oakwood Mutiny”. Aside from Maestrecampo and Gambala, seven other officers were given 6-12 year prison terms after similarly pleading guilty to the charges filed against them.

Interestingly, for a country that has been under the constant threat of coup d’etat, one whose people have elected two established coup plotters into the Senate, this is the first indictment and conviction for the crime of coup d’etat in the Philippines. Previous coup plotters have been treated with kid gloves, highlighted by an instance where the punishment for soldiers attempting to overthrow the duly elected government had been reduced to mere push-ups.

Now that people have actually been convicted of the crime of coup d’etat, let us hope that the message has gotten through to those idealistic minds in the armed forces, where the deadly combination of a messianic complex and easy access to arms, may allow certain well-meaning officers to think that only they can save the people from what they perceive is the reincarnation of evil currently sitting in the Palace. Even if their perception of the sitting president is correct, and their other concerns valid, it does not in any way make the act of overthrowing a government through violent means legal and constitutional.

Unless another injudicious application of presidential pardon is in the works for Capt. Milo Maestrecampo and company, the sight of a fellow officer getting 40 years in prison for coup d’etat should serve as an effective deterrent for any future coup plotters. Let us hope that this embattled administration, whose questionable mandate has already made it the target of numerous coup attempts, does not waste the message of these convictions the same way it utterly decimated any gains made by Erap’s plunder conviction when he was pardoned without even spending a day in jail.*