DOJ clears Robredo, indicts Trillanes and 10 others for ‘conspiracy to commit sedition

February 10, 2020

The Department of Justice (DOJ) cleared  Vice President Leni Robredo and several opposition leaders of sedition, but approved the indictment of former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and 10 others for "conspiracy to commit sedition" over an alleged plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a 57-page resolution dated January 27 and released last Friday, the DOJ’s panel of prosecutors found probable cause to indict Trillanes, Peter Joemel Advincula alias "Bikoy," dismissed police official Eduardo Acierto, and Fr. Albert Alejo, Jonnel Sangalang, Yolanda Villuaneva Ong, Fr. Flaviano Villanueva, Vicente Romano III, Joel Saracho, Boom Enriquez, and one alias "Monique" for conspiracy to commit sedition under Article 141 of the Revised Penal Code.

Besides Robredo, the DOJ prosecutors also cleared opposition Senators Risa Hontiveros and Leila de Lima, former Senator Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino, members of the Otso Diretso senatorial slate, lawyers, and some Catholic bishops of all the charges.

The DOJ on Monday formally indicted Trillanes and his co-accused before a Quezon City court for conspiracy to commit sedition charge and recommended P10,000 bail for their temporary liberty.

In a statement, the DOJ panel explained that “interlocking pieces of proof provide a complete picture of the grand conspiracy between and among some respondents to create hatred or revenge against the President and his family with the end in view of toppling and destabilizing the current administration.”

The DOJ prosecutors stressed that Trillanes and his co-respondents committed conspiracy to commit sedition after they caused the online publication of so-called “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos where the former senator and his co-respondents insinuated that members of the President’s family and political allies were receiving pay-offs from drug syndicate.

The panel found as relevant evidence to the case Advincula’s press conference held at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines where he, among others, admitted to being “Bikoy”, the supposed whistleblower  in the videos, as well as Acierto’s press statement on March 25, 2019 where he accused Duterte,  his family and his close associates of supposed links to drugs and drug syndicates.

The prosecutors also cited the admission of by respondents, especially the allegations of Advincula and certain admission of former Senator Trillanes, “which bolster the existence of a grand conspiracy between and among some respondents to commit the crime of sedition.”

"In finding no probable cause for sedition or inciting to sedition, the Panel found the element of public and tumultuous uprising wanting," the DOJ said, in a statement.

"It further explained that while the video series 'contains libelous imputations against President Duterte and his family which tend to create hatred or revenge against them,' nonetheless no words were uttered which tended to incite the people to take up arms or rise against the government," it added. DMS