Trillanes asks SC to nullify Duterte proclamation, stop arrest order

September 6, 2018

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to stop the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police from arresting him to face prosecution for cases arising from attempted military coups against  then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In a 36-page petition for prohibition and certiorari, Trillanes appealed to the SC to issue a temporary restraining order stopping the AFP and PNP from arresting him as directed in Proclamation No. 572, which nullified the amnesty granted to him by former President Benigno Aquino III in 2011. Trillanes also asked the 15-member bench to nullify Duterte's Proclamation 572 for alleged violation of the 1987 Constitution. The SC is set to tackle Trillanes' petition on Sept. 11. Trillanes lawyer, Reynaldo Robles, said they went to the SC despite being told Trillanes might not be able to win his case. "But I don't believe in that. I believe that the justices of the Supreme Court and the judges in the trial court would act if they see this abuse and assault on our Constitution and defend our rights," Robles said in an interview. Robles said they are hoping the SC would issue a favorable ruling. "They are trying to arrest a senator without a warrant of arrest issued by a court. If this was done to a senator, then it would be done to anybody. Our freedom is in danger," said Reyes. Trillanes submitted documents to prove he met the requirements of his amnesty, particularly submission of formal application and express admission of guilt on crimes charged. But he did not submit the application form reportedly "missing" in the records of the military. Named respondents in the petition were Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Armed Force Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. and PNP  Director Gen. Oscar Albayalde. Trillanes said the proclamation violates the constitutional grant of "shared power" between the executive and legislative branches in issuance and withdrawal of amnesty. "The power to grant amnesty is not just the sole prerogative of the Executive. Under the Constitution, this power, to be validly exercised, requires concurrence of both Houses of Congress," Trillanes said, citing Article VII, Section 19 of the Constitution. Trillanes said the proclamation violated the rule on double jeopardy since the cases against him have  been dismissed by the Makati City regional trial courts. He said cases against him before Makati City RTC, Branches 148 and 150, were "both dismissed on the basis of the amnesty granted to petitioner... long after the petitioner was arraigned in both cases, the same constitute the dismissal on the merits of these two cases, which have long become final and executory." Trillanes said Duterte's proclamation violated the provisions against warrantless arrest and authority of the courts to order arrest of individuals. Trillanes said the amnesty granted to him by former president Benigno Aquino III in 2011 and ordered his arrest was issued with grave abuse of discretion because the cases were "already completely extinguished, abolished and put into oblivion." Duterte's three-page proclamation ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police to "apprehend" the opposition senator and recommit him in the detention facility where he had been incarcerated prior to the grant of amnesty in 2011. It also directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the AFP court martial "to pursue all criminal and administrative cases" filed against Trillanes in relation to the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 and Manila Peninsula siege in 2007. DMS