Palace says law now catching up with Trillanes

January 8, 2019

Malacanang said on Tuesday that the law is catching up with opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV after a Makati City court upheld its earlier decision to issue a warrant of arrest against him on his rebellion case.

While Trillanes has been on temporary liberty after posting bail, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said what happened to the staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte should serve as a warning to those who would think of launching a plot against the government.

"While currently at liberty after posting bail, Senator Trillanes must still come to grips with the criminal transgressions he committed as an ingrate and renegade military officer. He may have succeeded in evading his accountability before the law but the law is now catching up on him," he said in a statement.

It should dawn on Trillanes, an outgoing senator, and to others who are prone to challenge the law that "it is no respecter of anyone regardless of the political and social status of the violator."

"Senator Trillanes’ comeuppance is finally knocking at his door, and he can only blame himself for the situation he embroiled himself in for he created his own quagmire," he said.

"What’s happening to him should strike fear in the hearts of those who after being financed by the taxpayers' money for their education will plot against the government that nurtured them as well as those who use their political power to shield them from accountability as they malign and sow intrigues against persons they dislike even inciting the citizenry to hate duly constituted authorities," Panelo stressed.

Trillanes was a graduate of the state-run Philippine Military Academy.

Judge Elmo Alameda of Makati Regional Trial Court, Branch 150, on Monday denied Trillanes' motion for reconsideration after the court issued a warrant of arrest against him for his rebellion case in connection with the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.

Last year, Duterte issued Proclamation No. 572 declaring as void ab initio the amnesty that former President Benigno Aquino III granted to Trillanes for failure to comply with the basic requirements. Celerina Monte/DMS