Twenty-eight Army and Marine officers pleaded not guilty to the charge of mutiny in connection with the February 2006 alleged coup plot during their arraignment Thursday afternoon.
The officers, which included Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Col. Ariel Querubin, were charged with violation of the Articles of War 67 or mutiny after the general court martial dismissed their petition to drop the case, thereby paving the way for their arraignment and trial.
Earlier, the court denied the petition of the respondents to dismiss the charge of mutiny for lack of merit.
The court said that there is probable cause to charge the officers with mutiny.
Siding with the arguments of military prosecutors, the court cited the alleged plan of the group to withdraw support from President Arroyo, join anti-government protests on Feb. 24, 2006, and convince then-Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Generoso Senga to join them.
The tribunal, headed by Maj. Gen. Jogy Leo Fojas, also rejected the argument of defense lawyers that the mutiny charge should be dropped, since pre-trial investigators recommended for it to be dropped.
More than a month ago, the military court dismissed charges of violation of Articles of War 96, 97, 65 and 63 after they sided with defense lawyers that the charges already reached the two-year prescription period, in which the accused are supposed to be arraigned within two years.
Military prosecutors tried to petition the court to give them more time to file a motion for reconsideration to the ruling of the court but was denied.
Col. Feliciano Loy said that he will raise the issue to the Supreme Court. Jay Ruiz, ABS-CBN News