(Eagle News) – The Office of the Solicitor General will no longer file a motion for reconsideration before branch 148 of the Makati regional trial court on its resolution that denied the government’s motion for an arrest warrant against opposition senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
Instead, Solicitor General Jose Calida will go straight to the Court of Appeals to question the ruling of Makati RTC branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano, according to Malacanang.
“He (Calida) will not file a motion for reconsideration, but go immediately to the Court of Appeals and appeal the ruling of the court with respect to non-issuance of warrant of arrest,” Presidential Spokesperson and Chief
Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo in a press briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Malacanang.
Panelo said that he had gone over the decision of Makati Judge Soriano and found errors in the court’s ruling.
“I have gone over the decision. There are procedural matters decided by the court which to my mind are erroneous — how it accepted evidence despite the fact that they were only secondary evidence,” he said.
Panelo said the Solicitor General is “already preparing the petition to be filed.”
When asked when this would be filed with the Court of Appeals, he said, “very soon.”
Panelo said that while the Makati RTC ruled that President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation No. 572 that voided Trillanes’ amnesty grant was valid, he found it “erroneous” that the court accepted “secondary evidence” and on that basis, denied the government’s motion for an arrest warrant against the senator.
“This administration will always observe the rule of law. Any violation of the law, it is mandated to prosecute. We saw there has been a violation on the grant of amnesty, that is why a proclamation was issued to declare its nullity,” Panelo explained.
“Until it is signed and the Supreme Court says we are wrong, we will consistently make our stand that we are right,” he said.
