(Eagle News)–Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday, Sept. 28, said the Department of Justice had “no problem” with a Makati judge’s decision to defer action on their motion for an arrest warrant and hold departure order against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
“The DOJ does not have any problem with Judge [Andres] Soriano’s desire to study the issues further,” he said, referring to the presiding judge of Makati Regional Trial Court’s Branch 148, where Trillanes had been charged with coup d’état in connection with the Oakwood takeover in 2003.
Soriano set the DOJ motion for hearing on Oct. 5 instead.
This was unlike what Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda did.
Alameda, who is in charge of the rebellion case filed against Trillanes in connection with the Peninsula Manila siege in 2007, granted a similar motion filed by the DOJ, but the senator posted bail for his temporary liberty.
“We are already very happy that (Soriano) took cognizance of our motion, heard the parties, admitted the evidence, and issued the appropriate orders, instead of refusing to act at all,” Guevarra said.
He said this was “extremely significant from a legal and jurisdictional standpoint.”
“..The bail imposed and the hold departure order issued by Judge Alameda in the other case have provided adequate safeguards to assure the presence of Senator Trillanes for any further judicial proceedings,” Guevarra said.