Senator Antonio Trillanes IV worked until 4 a.m. inside his office at the Senate to review the proclamation order revoking his amnesty for his Oakwood Mutiny and the Manila Peninsula Siege case, the senator’s staff revealed on Wednesday, September 5.
Trillanes’ media relations officer Adette Romero said that the senator met with his lawyers to prepare a petition against the revocation of his amnesty and President Rodrigo Duterte’s orders to have him arrested.
On Tuesday, September 4, Senate President Vicente Sotto III put the session on caucus and declared that Trillanes could not be arrested inside the Senate premises while session is ongoing. Other senators supported this decision.
Sotto also revealed that Trillanes has expressed his willingness to come with the police if a warrant is issued against him.
No warrant for now
Judge Andres Soriano of Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 has also not approved the justice department’s request for a warrant of arrest and hold departure order against Trillanes. The court instead set a court hearing on September 13.
The court gave Trillanes five days to file a comment or a petition to which the senator said he would adhere to.
Moreover, Trillanes said he will file another petition seeking for a temporary restraining order against the revocation of his amnesty.
Revocation of amnesty
On Tuesday, September 4, President Rodrigo Duterte voided the amnesty granted to the senator by former president Benigno Aquino III in 2011, and declaring it as “void ab initio” or to be treated as invalid from the outset under Proclamation 572 dated August 31, 2018.
The proclamation order states that “there is no copy of his (Trillanes) application for amnesty in the records” and that the senator “never expressed his guilt for the crimes that were committed on the occasion of the Oakwood Mutiny and the Manila Peninsula Siege” and that “the grant of amnesty [given] to Trillanes under Proclamation No. 75 is declared void ab initio because he did not comply with the minimum requirements to qualify under the amnesty proclamation.”
The proclamation also included orders for Trillanes’ arrest.
For his part, Trillanes said he was able to comply with the minimum requirements of the amnesty and that he filed his application for the amnesty. He also showed video clips from news outlets as his proof.
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