(Eagle News)—Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday, Sept. 4, defended President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to revoke the amnesty granted to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
According to Guevarra, “the matter of taking a look at whether amnesty granted is valid or not is something that can be done at any time..”
He said this was “because probably you’ve seen from the proclamation if that grant of amnesty is declared to be void then it can be attacked at any time because it’s void.”
“And the matter of timing is irrelevant. There is no time element or prescriptive period for something to be attacked if from the beginning it is void,” he said.
President Duterte voided the amnesty granted by then-President Benigno Aquino III to Trillanes in 2010, saying the senator did not comply with the minimum requirements for the amnesty in the first place.
Guevarra is the caretaker of the government while President Duterte is on official visit to Israel.