Documents presented
Why are the police and the military at the Senate, even if a warrant of arrest for Senator Trillanes has yet to be issued by the court? Senators Recto and Escudero have decried the armed presence at the Senate, saying that the Senate should not be militarized. As such, a plan by Senate President Sotto is being drafted to limit the number of armed personnel within the Senate premises. This only proves how loyal the police and the military are to President Duterte. Just one word, they immediately obey even if it disregards procedure.
In Israel, when Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met with Duterte, he said he ordered his military to buy weapons and equipment only from Israel. “My orders to my military is that in terms of military equipment particularly intelligence gathering, we only have one country to buy it from. That is my order, specifically, Israel.” Not “the military” or “our military” but “my military”. Was this unintended? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps Duterte really feels he owns both the police and the military after he increased their wage, increased their benefits, and who knows what else, hence their unwavering loyalty. If only they acted that fast to apprehend Peter Lim who is still at large.
According to the Palace, the videos and news clips showing Senator Trillanes applying for amnesty and admitting his mistakes have no bearing whatsoever. What is needed are the documents pertaining to his application for amnesty. Does that mean CCTV footage have no bearing in anything, especially of police abuses? Like the CCTV footage showing police manhandling Kian Delos Santos, just before he supposedly shot it out with police? Should Kian have presented a document showing that he did not shoot it out with the police? Oh I forgot. He was killed.
Trillanes has already showed several documents to prove that he was granted amnesty for the acts of mutiny at Oakwood in 2003, and in the Manila Peninsula in 2007. He also says he no longer is part of the military when he filed for candidacy last 2004, so the military has no jurisdiction over him. And yet the military maintains a presence at the Senate. There are also court documents pardoning him for the crimes of mutiny, because of the amnesty granted to him and others by President Aquino. How could he be granted amnesty, if he did not comply with all the requirements? The administration claims there are no records of his application for amnesty. That seems a stretch. Did some “magical” thing happen to his documents in order to have an excuse to withdraw his amnesty? Is this why the administration is confident of its case? And why is he being singled out? There were so many of them at Oakwood and Manila Peninsula, including Nicanor Faeldon and Danilo Lim. Will their amnesty be withdrawn as well, or do they definitely have all the documents, because they already are in Duterte’s administration? The Supreme Court must intervene, if it can truly be a court of the people, and not a court of the administration. Legal issues need to be clarified, because Trillanes and the administration are gearing up for a legal fight.