By Earlo Bringas
Eagle News Service
(Eagle News) – Senator Antonio Trillanes IV spent the night inside the Senate building after news about the voiding of his amnesty came out Tuesday, September 4.
Trillanes maintained that he will stay at the Senate premises until his lawyers have completed and filed the legal remedies needed to prove the validity of the amnesty granted to him by former President Benigno Aquino III.
About 20 of his supporters also arrived at the Senate to express their support to the senator that night, shouting “Stand with Trillanes!”
Trillanes said that he had been jailed before, and that this would not be a new experience for him.
“Eh nakulong naman kasi ako for more than seven and a half years. Ayoko namang maulit sana yun, but kung talagang pupunta run, it’s not a new experience,” he said.
The senator consulted his lawyers Tuesday night and claimed there were many loopholes in the Proclamation No. 572 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte that voided his amnesty.
“Sorry di ko muna madi-divulge. But maraming butas itong ginawa nila ngayon (which) will not stand in any objective court. I will definitely consult my lawyers, the senate leadership. I will abide. Hindi lang ako gaanong bihasa sa mga legalities. We will cross the bridge when we get there,” Trillanes said.
After his closed door meeting with his lawyers, Trillanes went back to his office where he remained throughout the night.
His supporters, meanwhile, came to give him food and other expressions of support. Some of them also spent the night in the Senate.
Earlier, Trillanes cried political persecution after Malacanang voided his amnesty. He claimed that he had complied with the requirements for amnesty, and that the criminal cases on the coup d’etat had been dismissed after he had been granted amnesty.
He also accused Solicitor General Jose Calida as behind the crafting of the presidential proclamation that declared his 2010 amnesty as “void ab initio” or “void from the start” that was signed by President Duterte and by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea before their four-day visit to Israel.
(Eagle News Service)
