WE SALUTE YOU MAJOR - BASILIO POOTEN

144 Responses to “Walkout for justice”
Ellen Says:
November 11th, 2007 at 9:51 pm

Statement
from the detained officers in Camp Capinpin:
WE SALUTE YOU MAJOR BASILIO POOTEN (JAGS)

“I am an officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and at the same time a lawyer. I will not allow myself to trample upon the rights of the accused gentlemen officers and be a party to the denial of their Constitutional rights. And by these, your Honors, I ask to be excused from these proceedings.”
Fighting words said under the sharp and glaring eyes of Col Marian Aleido, the Law member of the Special General Court Martial #2 trying the twenty-eight (28) Marines and Scout Rangers in Tanay.
We, Marines and Scout Rangers, salute you Major Pooten. You proved yourself to be a true Marine. Being a lawyer, you may not have been a Marine all your career life, but you surely had imbibed that WARRIOR spirit and honor. You have refused to be cowed into toeing the line emanating from illegitimate orders.
You humbled us by entertaining thoughts that you will succumb to the whims and caprices of Mister Esperon. How wrong we were. However, we worry for you Major Pooten. Given the vengeful character of the present leadership of the AFP, you might find yourself out in the cold. However, we have no doubt in our minds that you will weather the storm given the kind of stuff you are made of.
Col Marian Aleido, you are a great disappointment. You have been with the Marines also, longer than Major Pooten. We only had great admiration for your sense of justice and fairness and religious fervor then. However, as the trial progressed, we observed a very disturbing transformation in you which is way out of character…way out of what we have always known you. What happened Col Aleido?
Major Pooten, you have provided us with an inspiration that there are still decent officers in the AFP. We are aware there are more like you. We call on their moral and professional sense to stop the bastardization of our Military Justice System. We, officers in Tanay, are just collateral victims in this drama.
The real victim here is our justice system.