(Eagle News) — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday, Sept. 7, said the Department of Justice would seek an alias warrant and a hold departure order against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV from another court.
Guevarra said the motion would be filed today before Branch 150 of the Makati Regional Trial Court, where Trillanes, who played a prominent role in the Oakwood Mutiny and the Peninsula Manila Siege in 2003 and 2007, respectively, was charged with rebellion.
This motion would be apart from the motion the DOJ filed before Branch 148 of the Makati RTC, where Trillanes was charged with separate coup d’etat raps.
Trillanes’ position is that all these cases have already been dismissed.
But the DOJ has said that following the issuance of the proclamation that declared the amnesty granted to Trillanes as void ab initio, these cases would revert merely to their previous status, which meant they were pending against Trillanes.
The DOJ had said the dismissal of such cases was, after all, “anchored on” the amnesty in the first place.
Judge Andres Soriano has scheduled the hearing on the motion filed before Branch 148 on Sept. 13.
Asked if filing the motion before Branch 150 was considered forum shopping, Guevarra replied in the negative, saying the move was only for the DOJ to exhaust all possible legal remedies to comply with Presidential Proclamation No. 572.
The proclamation had directed the DOJ to “pursue all criminal and administrative cases against” Trillanes in relation to the Oakwood mutiny and Peninsula Manila siege.
In making the declaration the amnesty was as if it never existed, the proclamation cited Trillanes’ alleged failure to file an official form of application for the same, and a certification from the Armed Forces of the Philippines that said there was no available copy of such an application in the first place.
The proclamation noted that Trillanes also failed to make an express admission of guilt for the commission of such crimes.