Sotto says Trillanes cannot be arrested as long as he is in Senate custody

September 4, 2018

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Senator Antonio Trillanes IV will remain in the protective custody of the Upper House as long as he stays in the premises. Sotto made the statement after police criminal investigators appeared to arrest him following the revocation of President Rodrigo Duterte of a 2010 amnesty by then President Benigno Aquino III to mutineers who occupied Oakwood and Manila Peninsula in 2003 and 2007. "To preserve the integrity of the Senate, tradition dictates that he cannot be arrested in the Senate premises," said Sotto. "Yes ( he is under the protective custody of the Senate) as long as he remains in the premises," added Sotto. After a caucus, Sotto said senators supported his position that Trillanes should not be arrested while he is in the premises. President Rodrigo Duterte has declared as "void ab initio" the amnesty granted to Trillanes IV during the Aquino administration. Proclamation No. 572, which Duterte signed on August 31, stated Trillanes never expressed his guilt for the crimes that he committed on the occasion of the July 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and November 2007 Manila Peninsula Hotel siege when he was still with the Philippine Navy. It also cited Trillanes' failure to apply for amnesty. "Despite former LTSG (Lieutenant Senior Grade) Trillanes IV's failure to apply for amnesty and refusal to admit his guilt, his name was nonetheless included among those granted amnesty pursuant to DND (Department of National Defense) Ad Hoc Committee Resolution No. 2 approved by former Secretary of National Defense Voltaire T. Gazmin," the proclamation read. Since Trillanes failed to comply with the "minimum requirements to qualify under the Amnesty Proclamation," it said the grant of amnesty to him was declared as "void ab initio," which means void from the beginning. In a press conference in Israel, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte was just implementing the law for issuing the Proclamation against Trillanes' amnesty. "There's nothing political. This is all his (Trillanes') acts," he said. DMS