Trillanes changes mind, won’t leave Senate grounds after all even after SC ruling

(File photo) Philippine Senator Antonio Trillanes shows documents during a press conference in Manila on September 6, 2018.
Trillanes has been holed up in the Senate to avoid arrest since September 4, 2018 when President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation No. 572 voiding his amnesty grant was published in a newspaper. / AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE

 

(Eagle News) – Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has changed his mind and said that he will still stay inside the Senate premises upon the “advice of some senators” a few hours after he had said he was prepared to leave the Senate grounds after the Supreme Court ruling denying his petition for a temporary restraining order.

Trillanes said that he came out with his decision after allegedly making “direct engagements” with the “units” from the Armed Forces of the Philippines that were assigned to arrest him.

He feared that he could still be arrested anytime once he leaves the Senate grounds even if the Supreme Court had cited the assurance made by President Rodrigo Duterte that he would not be arrested without a valid arrest warrant, as well as the assurance of the AFP that court martial proceedings would not proceed after the President’s directive that he preferred civilian courts to take over Trillanes’ case.

Kung ang sabi noong mga units na mag arresto ay arrestuhin ako, palagay ko maliwanag na yun. Ibig sabihin nun, hindi binababa yung order o walang planong ibaba (If the units assiged to arrest me are saying that I will still be arrested, I think that is clear.  That only means the order [that I won’t be arrested] had not yet been brought down to them or there is no plan for this),” he claimed.

Because of this, he said, he was “advised by some senators” to stay at the Senate.

One of the senators who advised him was Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon who also told media that it was better for Trillanes to stay inside the Senate grounds.

“I was advised by some senators to stay here for the time being until we’ve clarified this because we’ve been trying to get categorical statements from the AFP na kung aarestuhin pa nila ako o hindi. Ang sagot ay arrestuhin pa raw ako,” insisted the senator who led the Oakwood Mutiny 15 years ago.

His statement was a turn-around from his earlier pronouncement on Tuesday afternoon that he is already prepared to leave the Senate building and go home to his family after the Supreme COurt ruling denying his TRO petition and prayer for injunction on the supposed government threat to arrest him.

He said then that he was ready to leave the Senate building after consulting with his lawyers.

“According to lawyers, that if translated, while the petition for TRO was denied, it took judiclal notice of the pronouncements of both President Duterte and the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) that there won’t be any arrest,” he said.

“If I go out later or tomorrow, and I would be arrested, it would be an open defiance of the decision,” he said.

The high court in its decision denying Trillanes’ petition for a preliminary injunction and a TRO took “judicial notice of the categorical pronouncement of President Duterte that Senator Trillanes will not be apprehended, detained or taken into custody unless a warrant of arrest has been issued by the trial court.”

“And thus there is no extreme and urgent necessity for the Court to issue an injunctive relief considering that the respondents have acknowledged Senator Trillanes’ right to due process.”

“In fact, the DOJ (Department of Justice) has caused the filing of pertinent motions before the Makati regional Trial Courts (RTCs) and the AFP has assured that court martial proceedings shall be held in abeyance pending the resolution of the amnesty withdrawal.”

The high court also noted that the “issues of whether or not Senator Trillanes filed an application for amnesty and whether or not he admitted his guilt for the crimes subject thereof appear to be factual in nature.”

“Only a trial court, and in certain cases, the Court of Appeals, are trier of facts. Hence, it is appropriate that the Makati RTCs should be given leeway in exercising their jurisdiction to hear and resolve the pleadings/motions filed by the parties as regards the legality of Proclamation No. 572, Series of 2018,” the SC decision read.

Trillanes and his lawyers said that this meant that the Supreme Court was passing on the determination of the “factual side of the decision to the RTC.”

The senator had been spending his nights inside his Senate office since September 4 when President Duterte’s Proclamation No. 572 voiding the amnesty granted to him by former President Benigno Aquino III was published in a newspaper, the Manila Times.