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E-mailContrary to earlier reports, the appointed chairman of the independent body tasked to probe and dismantle all private armies was not a retired Supreme Court (SC) justice but a retired Court of Appeals (CA) associate justice. Neither is the appointee a he, but a she.
Monina Arevalo-Zenarosa and some commissioners took their oath on Tuesday. They challenged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to prove her mettle in implementing the recommendations that they will submit.
In a ceremony at the Premiere Guest House in Malacañang, Zenarosa and commissioners retired Brig. Gen. Jaime Echeverria, retired Police Deputy Director General Virtus Gil, Dante Jimenez of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), and Herman Basbano of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) were sworn into office before Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita . However, Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and Mahmod Mala Adilao of the Ulama-Bishops Conference were not able to attend.
Zenarosa hailed from Masbate and graduated from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Civil Law in 1959. In the same year, she passed the Bar Examinations at the age of 20. In 2004, Arroyo appointed her associate justice of the CA. The 70-year-old authored the CA 11th Special Division's decision to acquit US Marines Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith of the charges for the “rape” of Suzette “Nicole” Nicolas in Subic in November 2005.
In an Inquirer.net report, Jimenez said that he and the other commissioners would not limit their function to merely submitting recommendations on the annihilation of private armies. They would expect Arroyo's display of political will should she approve and implement the strategies that the commission will develop within her four-month mandate.
Following the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao on Nov. 23, 2009 said to have been perpetuated by the Ampatuan clan and its armed supporters, Administrative Order 275 formed the independent commission tasked with investigating the formation, motivation, firearm acquisition, and congregation of private armies, and with ultimately crushing them before the May national polls.
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