Lawsuits readied vs AFP officers in 'Hello, Garci' scandal

Cases are being readied against military officers allegedly involved in the rigging of the 2004 presidential elections in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a lawyer for two soldiers facing mutiny charges said on Friday. Lawyer Trixie Angeles, counsel for suspected coup plotters retired Marine Lt. Col. Achilles Segumalian and Army Maj. Jason Aquino, said she and other lawyers are preparing charges against military men who allegedly took part in electoral fraud during the May 2004 polls. "The Garci officers who continue to receive promotion should start worrying because their sins will come back to haunt them. We will be looking at appropriate legal remedies that will be taken against them," Angeles said during the court martial proceeding of her clients. Segumalian and Aquino are two of the officers charged with mutiny for their alleged involvement in a foiled plot to overthrow the Arroyo government in February 2006. Angeles added that she and other lawyers will be pursuing the charges against "Garci officers" in both military and civilian courts, with hopes that the new administration of President Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III will "uphold the highest principles of justice." "To those whose names did not surface in public, we know who they are. They should start worrying, at the very least. We (will) give them sleepless nights," she said. The names of three now-retired generals – Hermogenes Esperon, Roy Kyamko and Gabriel Habacon – came out in the controversial “Hello, Garci" tapes – the wiretapped phone conversation between a woman believed to be Arroyo and a man believed to be then Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. A report released by a military fact-finding panel headed by retired Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga, however, cleared the three military officers of involvement in the supposed electoral fraud. Angeles said that aside from the retired officials, charges are also being prepared against military officers "who are still in the active service." Angeles, however, refused to name the officers she was referring to. The "Hello, Garci" scandal is also among the scandals that hounded the Arroyo administration that the soon-to-be-formed Truth Commission will be looking into. — with Andreo Calonzo/RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV