When will Malacañang’s student council, as Sen. Joker Arroyo calls the Palace officials, stop its nasty habit of making boners? Indeed, Malacañang’s propensity to follow a boo-boo with another boo-boo ceases to amaze me.
Amnesty Proclamation No. 50 issued by President Benigno Aquino 3rd had many flaws, as pointed out by well-meaning critics. Malacañang acknowledged this and withdrew it pronto, replacing it with Amnesty Proclamation No. 75. All’s well that ends well? Not so fast. The Palace followed this with another boo-boo!
When asked by the Senate to submit a list of potential beneficiaries of the amnesty, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa gave one that included Sen. Gringo Honasan. I commiserate with Gringo who had also been charged with leading the various coup attempts against the administration of the late President Cory Aquino. “I feel like I am a serial suspect,†he said on his inclusion in the list.
The list submitted by Malacañang to the Senate Committee on Peace, Unification and Reconciliation headed by Sen. TG Guingona demonstrated the cavalier attitude of Malacañang to Senate hearings. It did not even subject the list to a thorough review. All it did was get a copy of the charge sheet against those involved in the various mutinies against then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo—and it so happened that Gringo was on that list.
Oh yes, four persons allegedly belonging to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army were also in the list. Could they qualify then for amnesty? And how about those on the Malacañang list who are already dead? Is there such a thing as a posthumous application for amnesty?
Aside from the inclusion of the names of persons who should not be there, the list is also remarkable for the omission of the names of persons who should be there. Retired Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim said that 40 former Scout Rangers were not on the list. He said that these Rangers were detained for two years without any investigation or charges, and then dishonorably discharged “at the whim†of Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, the former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Danny Lim, who was once connected with the office of Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, is pushing for the inclusion of the 40 Rangers on the list of potential amnesty beneficiaries. If they are included, then they could qualify for either reinstatement or retirement benefits
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