Palace: PNoy will act on court martial decisions

Unlike his predecessor, President Benigno Aquino III will act on court martial rulings that will be handed out during his administration, his spokesperson said Monday. "Hindi po (niya) tutulugan. As a matter of principle, anything that requires presidential action, he will do... the President would promptly do it," Malacañang spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters. "It did not take him (Aquino) one year to confirm (the court martial decision against former military comptroller Carlos Garcia). He was briefed on the matter and once all the briefings were finished [and] all his questions were addressed, he confirmed the decision," he added. DND probe At present, the Defense Department is conducting an investigation why the December 2005 court martial decision against former Armed Forces comptroller Carlos Garcia was not confirmed by former President now incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. A decision handed by the general court martial needs to be confirmed by the President, being the country’s commander in chief, before it can be implemented. The probe was initiated by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and had no intervention from Malacañang, Lacierda said. "Wala pong instruction from Malacañang... kausap ko si Sec. Gazmin, sila po ang kusang nag-imbestiga doon. Sec. Gazmin took it upon himself to investigate as to why there was no confirmation on the part of the former president," said Lacierda. He clarified that the investigation will no determine the culpability or non-culpability of Mrs. Arroyo. "It’s more of the process, not so much on identifying the culpability or non-culpability of the former president. It’s more of what happened to the whole case of Gen. Garcia as far as the military court martial case is concerned," he said. "They are identifying what happened along the process. This is really to identify the process, what happened to it. First and foremost there was a concern how come it was not confirmed by the former president and why is it up to this present president to confirm that decision on Gen. Garcia," he added. Articles of War In December 2005, the military tribunal found Garcia guilty of violating Articles of War 96, or conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman; and Articles of War 97, or conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline. The charges stemmed from Garcia's alleged mis-declaration of his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth for 2002 and 2003 and for possession of US permanent resident status even though he was still in the active service. Garcia ended his military career in November 2004. Garcia was sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor and discharged from service. He was arrested in his residence in Quezon City on September 16, 2011. Initially, he was detained inside the Intelligence Service, Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) compound in Camp Aguinaldo and later on, transferred to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City. Shortly after Garcia's arrest, Gazmin announced that President Aquino approved the conviction of Garcia on September 9. It came five months after the Special Defense Investigation Committee that probed Garcia’s case submitted its recommendations to Gazmin. — RSJ, GMA News