Reporter

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed its fourth amended information before the Regional Trial Court in Makati City, this time formally accusing former senator Gregorio Honasan as the mastermind of the failed Oakwood Mutiny on July 27, 2003.

The filing of the amended information was intended to correct the earlier complaint wherein DOJ prosecutors failed to allege that he was the leader of the  failed coup d’ etat.

Such failure prompted Makati RTC Judge Oscar Pimentel to grant Honasan’s petition for bail on April 20 as he gave credence to Honasan’s argument that based on Section 13 Article III of the 1987 Constitution, bail could be granted to “all persons, except those charged with offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong.”

The release order has allowed Honasan to go all-out on his campaign for a senatorial seat as an independent candidate in the coming May 14 elections.

Pimentel reversed his March 6 order which denied Honasan’s petition for bail for lack of merit.

He said that while a coup d’état is punishable by life imprisonment under Article 135 of the Revised Penal Code, it only becomes a capital offense when the accused is charged as a leader of the coup.

But in its original complaint, Pimentel noted that Honasan was not charged as the one who instigated more than 300 junior military officers known as the Magdalo group to launch a mutiny to topple the government.

In its amended information, Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon and State Prosecutor II Juan Pedro Navera accused Honasan of “leading, directing and commanding” the Magdalo group to undertake coup d’ état by seizing the Oakwood Premier Hotel and its vicinity to demand the resignation of President Arroyo.

The prosecutors recommended no bail for Honasan.

The filing of the amended information came after the prosecutors affirmed their December 12, 2005 resolution finding probable cause to indict Honasan for coup d’ état.

Fadullon said it would be up to the judge to decide whether it would recall Honasan’s bail based on the amended information.

“We don’t want to second-guess what the court’s position will be,” Fadullon said.

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THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed its fourth amended information before the Regional Trial Court in Makati City, this time formally accusing former senator Gregorio Honasan as the mastermind of the failed Oakwood Mutiny on July 27, 2003.