SC junks Trillanes’s TRO plea
The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday denied the plea of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would stop the enforcement of President Duterte’s Proclamation No. 572 which revoked the senator’s 2010 amnesty and ordered his arrest and detention.
Instead, the SC – during its full court session – decided to require the Executive Department, led by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, to comment on or answer within 10 days Trillanes’s petition that
challenged the constitutionality of the proclamation.
In denying Trillanes’s plea for a TRO or a preliminary injunctive relief, the SC took note “of the categorical pronouncement of President Duterte that Senator Trillanes will not be apprehended, detained or taken into custody unless a warrant of arrest has been issued by the trial court, and, thus, there is no extreme and urgent necessity for the Court to issue an injunctive relief considering that the respondents have acknowledged Senator Trillanes’s right to due process.”
“In fact, the DOJ (Department of Justice) has caused the filing of pertinent motions before the Makati regional trial courts (RTCs) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines has assured that the court martial proceedings shall be held in abeyance pending resolution of the amnesty withdrawal,” the SC also in its resolution.
The SC pointed out that “the issues of whether or not Senator Trillanes filed an application for amnesty and whether or not he admitted his guilt for the crimes subject thereof appear to be factual in nature.”
“Only a trial court, and in certain cases, the Court of Appeals, are the trier of facts. Hence, it is appropriate that the Makati RTCs should be given leeway in exercising their concurrent jurisdiction to hear and resolve the pleadings/motions filed by the parties as regards the legality of Proclamation No. 572, Series of 2018,” it stressed.
Earlier, the DOJ had filed a motion each before Makati RTCs Branch 148 and Branch 150 for the issuance of an arrest order and hold-departure order (HDO) against Trillanes.
But RTC Branch 148, where Trillanes’ criminal case in connection with the 2003 Oakwood mutiny was litigated and later dismissed with the grant of amnesty in 2010, did not issue any order and opted to hear the side of the parties in a hearing set for September 13.
Also Branch 150, where Trillanes’s cases related to the Peninsula Manila siege in 2007 was filed and subsequently dismissed, decided to conduct a hearing on September 14.
The dispositive portion of the SC resolution released by the High Court’s public information office (PIO) states:
“WHEREFORE, the prayer for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction and/or temporary restraining order of petitioner Senator Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes IV is DENIED. Respondents are DIRECTED to FILE COMMENT thereon within ten (10) calendar days from notice.”
Proclamation No. 572, which was issued last August 31, directed the AFP and the PNP “to employ all lawful means to apprehend former LTSG Antonio Trillanes IV so that he can be recommitted to the detention facility where he had been incarcerated for him to stand trial for the crimes he is charged with.”
It also directed the DOJ and the courts martial of AFP “to pursue all criminal and administrative cases filed against former LTSG Antonio Trillanes IV in relation to the Oakwood Mutiny and the Manila Peninsula Incident.” It cited Trillanes’s failure to apply for amnesty and to express guilt for the crimes he committed as reasons for the revocation of the amnesty granted him in 2010.
In his petition before the SC, Trillanes claimed that the proclamation which revoked his amnesty is null and void for violations of the Constitution.
Trillanes submitted documents which, he said, would prove that he met the requirements of amnesty specifically his formal application and admission of guilt on the crimes charged against him.