The local government should form a legal team to study the
options of entering into plea bargaining agreement with Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) members who are facing criminal charges for their
involvement in the 2013 siege.
First district Celso Lobregat made the suggestion when asked
about his position on the prevailing issue on the case filed by the city
government against the rouge MNLF members who are presently detained at the
government detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig City
“Whatever is the decision of our local officials, I am
totally supporting it,” Lobregat said being one of the two congressional
representatives of this city.
Lobregat said the plea bargaining agreement being sought by
the accused to determine the plight of the case filed against them by the city
government is tantamount to admission of guilt but seeking a lesser penalty.
“I am supporting the move of the city officials on this
matter, the local government should have good legal team to defend our position
on this issue,” Lobregat said.
He said that a strong and legally equipped battery of
lawyers “must defend at all cost the position of our people in defense of our
city whose tranquility was disturbed by the rogue rebels in September 2013.”
The City Council has unanimously approved a resolution in
its regular session last Tuesday expressing support whatever is the decision of
Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar on the issue.
The DOJ counter proposal on the plea of the accused is for
them to plead guilty to being accessories to violation of the International
Humanitarian Law (IHL), which would reduce the charges of rebellion to illegal
assembly.
The DOJ was of the belief that there was insufficient
evidence to pin down the MNLF’s for rebellion and direct violations of IHL.
The hearing was set last June 16 to 17, 2016 and another one
is scheduled on Aug. 9, 2016.
Some 140 of the 250 accused MNLF members linked to the
failed siege pleaded guilty on a lesser crime of illegal assembly.
Illegal assembly has a penalty of four years and two months
to eight years' prison without parole.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=911237
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