DOJ: Trillanes’ supposed proof he complied with amnesty requirements “deserves scant consideration”

(Eagle News) — The materials presented by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to the court as supposed proof he complied with the requirements for an amnesty are only “self-serving” and “deserve scant consideration,” the Department of Justice said.

In a reply-affidavit filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court’s Branch 150, the DOJ said in the first place, the application form the senator was holding up in a picture published by a newspaper on Jan. 5, 2011 “did not bear proof of receipt by the DND (Department of National Defense).”

The DOJ added the video footage that showed Trillanes going to the DND’s Ad Hoc committee to supposedly swear to his amnesty application also “did not prove that he has admitted his guilt and participation in the Oakwood Mutiny and the Peninsula Manila Hotel Incident.”

“As aptly pointed out by this Honorable Court during the motion hearing, the best evidence that (Trillanes) could submit to prove his claim is a copy of his application form bearing the receiving mark/stamp of the DND. This, (he) failed to do,” the DOJ said.

Apart from this, the DOJ said Trillanes was “emphatic and adamantly refused to admit his guilt as evident in his pronouncements” based on a GMA News Online article.

The article, written by Mark Meruenas, quoted Trillanes as saying such: “I would like to qualify that we did not admit to the charge of coup d’etat or anything na finile sa amin because we believe hindi yun ang nararapat na charge na ginawa sa amin.”

“With Trillanes’ misrepresentation of his compliance, the Honorable Court as well as the State was misled into believing that the grant of amnesty to him was valid and the dismissal of the case against him proper,” the DOJ said.

Proclamation 572 declared the amnesty granted to Trillanes for the Oakwood mutiny and Peninsula Manila siege as void ab initio, citing his alleged failure to submit an official application form, and his alleged failure to make an express admission of guilt.

Trillanes has been holed up in the Senate since early September, when news of the proclamation broke out.