(Eagle News) – “This is just the beginning. This is not the end.”
This was the pronouncement of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra after Makati Regional Trial branch 148 judge Andres Soriano “denied due course” to their motion seeking an arrest warrant and a hold departure order against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on the coup d’etat case initially filed in the said Makati court.
Gueverra said the Department of Justice will still elevate this to a superior court – to the Court of Appeals and even up to the Supreme Court.
He said that the main case is still pending with the Supreme Court.
“So kaya nga sinasabi ko repeatedly na this is just the beginning, this is not the end. Nobody has to claim total victory here. Umpisa pa lang ito, marami pang pupuntahan ang kasong ito,” he said in a press conference after the Makati RTC issued its resolution on Monday, Oct. 22.
Guevarra said that it was clear that even the Makati RTC recognized the validity of Proclamation No. 572 which was issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on Aug. 31 this year, declaring void ab initio the grant of amnesty to Trillanes.
“On the part of the DOJ, we will probably question the appreciation of the evidence by the trial court Branch 148. So this is not the end of it. Nobody can claim that he or it has actually come out as the victor in these proceedings. Remember that this is only one incident of a major case that is spending before the Supreme Court,” he explained.
Guevarra said the main case is the petition for certiorari and prohibition pending with the high court.
The Supreme Court, he said, remanded to the regional trial courts the resolution only of the factual issues. But he said that even these RTC resolutions are not yet final, referring to the resolution issued by Makati RTC branch 150 which earlier issued an arrest warrant for Trillanes on his rebellion case, and the latest resolution issued by Makati RTC branch 148 on the coup d’etat case.
“But the main case in the Supreme Court is still pending and this order by the Trial Court whether of 148 or of 150 is not final. This is not the end of the proceedings,” the DOJ chief said.
Last September, in a 22-page order, Makati RTC Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda granted the motion filed by DOJ in connection with the rebellion case against Trillanes and other Magdalo soldiers over the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007.
Trillanes had already posted P200,000 bail for his temporary liberty on the rebellion case after his mugshots were taken at the Makati police station on September 25.
But the coup d’etat case was non-bailable. This was the case initially filed with the Makati RTC branch 148.
“It boils down to an appreciation of the evidence. Esentially, pareho ng ebidensiya yan eh, in both 148 and 150. It is essentially the same,” Guevarra said explaining the evidence presented in both cases of rebellion and coup d’etat against Trillanes.
“But the appreciation of the judge presiding over the case may be different. So magkaiba sila ng tingin eh. So to that extent parang confusing pero in the end there will be a harmonization, or a sort of consolidated appreciation of all of these evidences, maybe at the Court of Appeals level or maybe even at the Supreme Court level,” Guevarra explained.
On Monday, Makati RTC branch 148 handling Trillanes’ coup d’etat case junked the motion for the issuance of arrest warrant against the senator saying that it was “powerless” to revive a case which had long been dismissed.
Makati RTC branch 148 Judge Soriano said that the coup d’etat case was dismissed based on the court’s order dated Sept. 21, 2011, or seven years ago, by virtue of Proclamation No. 75 of former President Benigno Aquino III granting Trillanes amnesty.
“The dismissal, it appears, has become final and executory,” the Makati court’s resolution on Monday said.
