Trillanes, the chief critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested but posted bail after a court issued a warrant for his arrest in what the lawmaker decried as a “failure of democracy”. “They twisted the law so our democracy and institutions failed,” Trillanes told reporters as he insisted his amnesty was valid. / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS
(Eagle News) — Senator Antonio Trillanes IV will not likely leave the Senate office yet after he returned late Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 26, shortly after posting a P200,000 bail before the Makati regional trial court which issued an arrest warrant for his rebellion case in connection with his participation in the 2007 Manila Peninsula Siege.
Trillanes said he is not yet ready to go home “unless this issue has been formally settled.”
He said he will also wait for developments on the coup d’etat case lodged in another Makati court, with RTC branch 148, which could also issue another arrest warrant.
“We are slightly more hopeful, but we have to prepare for the worse,” Trillanes said.
The senator said they are now waiting for a “miracle” from Makati RTC Branch 148, which would decide on the order of arrest asked for by the Department of Justice in relation with the coup d’etat case against him.
Coup d’etat is a non-bailable offense and the DOJ’s motion is still pending in the said court.
Trillanes posted bail Tuesday afternoon with the Makati RTC branch 150 which issued the arrest warrant on the rebellion case filed against him.
The arrest warrant was issued three weeks after President Rodrigo Duterte voided the 2011 amnesty granted to him over his alleged failure to comply with the “minimum requirements to qualify under the amnesty proclamation.”
The court also banned Trillanes from leaving the country without its permission.
“They twisted the law so our democracy and institutions failed,” Trillanes told reporters. “This (case) has nothing to do with anything except for the vengeance of Duterte and his underlings.”
The DOJ said with the amnesty declared as void from the start, the dismissal of the case is also void.
After learning of the arrest warrant, Trillanes voluntarily went with the police officers, led by National Capital Region Police Office Director Guillermo Eleazar, a few minutes past 3 p.m., leaving the Senate for the first time since the voiding of his amnesty was made public in September 4.
Proclamation No. 572, which was signed by President Duterte on Aug. 31, 2018, stated that as a consequence of the voiding of Trillanes’ amnesty, the DOJ and Court Martial of the Armed Forces of the Philippines are ordered to pursue all criminal administrative cases filed against the former Navy officer in relation to the Oakwood Mutiny and the Manila Peninsula Incident.
Trillanes last year appealed to the International Criminal Court to investigate killings in Duterte’s war on drugs and has repeatedly accused the president of being a mass murderer and holding secret bank accounts.
Last year Trillanes also had the president’s eldest son Paolo brought before a Senate inquiry to face allegations that he was involved in drug trafficking, which the younger Duterte denied.
Trillanes had faced rebellion and coup d’etat charges for being among military officers who rose up against then-president Gloria Arroyo over alleged corruption and mismanagement.
He led scores of junior officers in taking over part of Manila’s Makati business district in 2003 and seizing a luxury Manila hotel in 2007 along with several armed followers as they demanded Arroyo’s resignation.
(with reports from PNA and Agence France-Presse)