Makati court defers arrest warrant, hold departure order vs. Trillanes

September 28, 2018

Another Makati court Friday deferred its ruling on the motion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue an arrest warrant and hold departure order (HDO) against opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in connection with a mutiny in 2003.

Judge Andres Soriano of Regional Trial Court Branch 148 ordered Trillanes and the DOJ to submit evidence and set the hearing on October 5.

“The very urgent ex-parte motion Omnibus Motion for the issuance of HDO and Alias Warrant against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is deferred … Set this case for reception of the parties evidence on October 5, 2018 at 9 in the morning regarding the following factual issues: whether or not Trillanes filed the requisite application for amnesty under Proclamation No.75 before he was granted; and whether or not there was an admission of guilt on his part at the time he applied for and he was granted amnesty,” the court order stated.

In 2011, the court dismissed the case against Trillanes and the other Magdalo soldiers after the Aquino administration granted them amnesty.

But government prosecutors said President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation 572 nullifying Trillanes amnesty voided the court’s order of dismissal issued seven years ago.

In Proclamation 572, Trillanes' amnesty was declared “void ab initio” or invalid from the beginning.”

Proclamation 572 said Trillanes had failed to present the necessary requirements in the application of the amnesty for the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny, the Marine standoff and the Manila Peninsula siege.

Last Tuesday, Makati RTC Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda issued an arrest warrant on Trillanes over his involvement in the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.

Trillanes returned to the Senate after posting a P200,000 bail set by the court. DMS