No new arrest warrant vs Trillanes

A MAKATI court has denied the government’s petition for an arrest warrant and hold departure order against opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in connection with a dismissed case of coup d’ etat, but upheld the legality of President Rodrigo Duterte’s proclamation that voided the amnesty granted to the senator.

Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon confirmed the court’s denial of the DOJ petition.

Judge Andres Bartolome Soriano of Makati RTC Branch 148 released his resolution on the Department of Justice’s petition shortly before 4 p.m. Monday, October 22, more than three weeks after another court, Makati RTC Branch 150, issued an arrest warrant against the senator for revived rebellion charges.

Soriano’s resolution, contained in a sealed envelope, was served by Makati court sheriff Edmund De Javing to the DOJ first and to Trillanes next.

Trillanes, accompanied

by his lawyer Reynaldo Robles and some members of the Magdalo Group, awaited the decision in his office at the Senate.

In a press conference after receiving a copy of the resolution, Trillanes thanked Soriano for “single-handedly” upholding “justice and the rule of law despite extreme pressure from the Duterte regime.”

“Tayo po ay nabubuhayan ng loob na meron pong pagasa dito sa ating bayan (There is hope in our country yet) and this is personified by Judge Soriano,” he said.