‘Mr. Duterte, I will not cower’

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday called President Duterte a coward for stripping him of amnesty and ordering his arrest while out of the country, pretending to be busy and unconcerned.

“Mr. Duterte, you’re a coward. You waited until you left before you released your proclamation. This is a clear case of political persecution, but I will not cower. There’s a time for reckoning for you and your minions,” Trillanes said in a statement.

Duterte issued Proclamation 572 voiding the amnesty granted to Trillanes shortly

before he left for Israel for an official visit.

“What Mr. Duterte wants to happen is to order a warrantless arrest which seems to declare a de facto martial law,” he said.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Trillanes will be under the protective custody of the chamber for the meantime.

“To preserve the integrity of the Senate, tradition dictates that he cannot be arrested in the Senate premises,” Sotto said, adding that they would determine their next move in a caucus.

He said Trillanes was free to take advantage of the policy by not leaving the Senate, but if he leaves the premise “that’s no longer our concern.”

“So if it is considered the Senate leadership is taking him into custody, you can see it that way. But as I’ve said, there would be some limitations,” he said.

Trillanes stressed he was granted amnesty after complying with all requirements – including taking an oath in front of defense officials at the time.

“All my cases covered by the amnesty have been dismissed,” he said.

The senator made similar attacks against President Duterte in interviews with reporters at the Senate.

Trillanes expressed suspicion Solicitor General Jose Calida was behind the President’s move as the government lawyer was desperate to stop the Senate committee on civil service, government reorganization and professional regulation, which he heads, from investigating alleged anomalous contracts entered into by the security agency owned by the family of Calida.

Last year, chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said a review of the amnesty granted to Trillanes was being conducted after some legal quarters claimed it was invalid.

“Makikita niyo gaano kaduwag si Mr. Duterte. Napirmahan na niya ito, kailangan pa niya pumunta sa Israel. Busy siya kunwari at wala siya pakialam pero ang tawag dito, yung tirang takot (You can see how much of a coward Duterte is. He had to go to Israel pretending he’s busy and unconcerned. That’s the style of a coward),” Trillanes said.

He recalled how Duterte bore down on fellow minority senator Leila de Lima. At this point, he said it should be clear to all Filipinos that Duterte is a dictator.

Will not resist arrest

Trillanes said he will not resist arrest but will abide by the wisdom of the Senate leadership on what course of action to take.

“My lawyers are exhausting all legal remedies to void this stupid executive order. I don’t know if a lawyer came up with this. Most likely it was Calida,” Trillanes said.

“I will not go into hiding. I will abide by the Senate leadership. When the time comes, I will walk in (to jail). I will not resist arrest, I will not escape. I will face this head on. Now Mr. Duterte, ask yourself, when your time comes, will you face your cases?” he added.

Trillanes reiterated his challenge for Duterte to issue a waiver on the secrecy of his bank deposits and disprove his allegation about his undeclared wealth.

“I can’t imagine that they would go to such great lengths, even make themselves look so stupid, just to get rid of me,” the senator said.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon slammed Duterte’s proclamation, saying it has no basis and is a violation of Trillanes’ right against double jeopardy.

He said the revocation of the amnesty granted to Trillanes is premised on his alleged failure to apply for amnesty, which is required under Proclamation No. 75 issued by then president Benigno Aquino III.

But Drilon stressed Trillanes applied for amnesty, as the courts would not have dismissed the criminal cases against the senator in connection with the Oakwood munity.

“The court must have found the application and grant of amnesty valid; otherwise, the cases would not have been dismissed,” Drilon said.

“When amnesty was granted to Senator Trillanes, it was as if no crime was committed,” he said.

“That is the nature of amnesty. Jurisprudence provides that the grant of amnesty abolishes and puts into oblivion the offense itself, it so overlooks and obliterates the offense with which he is charged that the person released by amnesty stands before the law precisely as though he had committed no offense,” he said.

Out of focus

Sen. Francis Pangilinan slammed the administration for focusing more on silencing its critics than addressing the more pressing problems of the nation.

“We stand by Senator Trillanes, and will use all legal means to fight this illegal and abusive exercise of presidential power. The revocation of the proclamation granting amnesty to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is a clear persecution against one of the administration’s toughest critics,” Pangilinan said.

“It has no justifiable basis and done to silence Sen. Trillanes, who in the past has exposed to the public possible wrongdoings of the President,” he added.

Pangilinan pointed out that Proclamation 75 that granted amnesty to Trillanes in 2010 was concurred with by Congress and as such cannot be “easily set aside by the whims of one man.”

“The Constitution provides that an amnesty proclama- tion requires the concurrence of both houses of Congress and therefore the revocation requires our concurrence and is therefore not immediately executory,” Pangilinan said.

“Absent our concurrence any arrest is illegal. We urge the Armed Forces and the PNP not to enforce an illegal arrest,” he added.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto recalled that when he lost his 2007 re-election bid, one of the first congratulatory messages he made was for Trillanes, who was detained at the time.

“In my mind, here was a guy who, without setting one foot out of prison, was granted amnesty, not by one person but by 11,189,671 people,” Recto said.

“When he won reelection in 2013, more people –14,127,722 million this time – affirmed that the absolution earlier bestowed on him was right,” he said.

He said the government must honor the mandate and the trust millions of Filipinos had reposed on Trillanes.

If Trillanes had committed offenses after being granted amnesty, the right course to take is to charge him, and not to nullify an existing amnesty, Recto said.

The opposition senator should also be granted every opportunity to challenge the revocation of the amnesty in complete freedom, he said.

“Senator Trillanes attracts controversy when he dabbles in politics. But what is not well known is his immense contribution in policymaking which he conducts without fanfare,” Recto said.

He said he believes Trillanes had already done time for the mischief he had committed during the Arroyo administration.

Former solicitor general Florin Hilbay said Congress gave its concurrence to Aquino’s amnesty proclamation for Trillanes.

“President Duterte has no unilateral constitutional authority to nullify an amnesty given and accepted eight years ago,” Hilbay said.

Police outside Senate

Earlier in the day, scores of policemen were seen milling around the Senate building. Senate officials said some 40 military and police personnel were supposed to arrest Trillanes.

This is the second such incident at the Senate under Duterte. De Lima, who is also a member of the opposition, turned herself in to the police in February 2017 after she was charged with nonbailable drug charges.

Sotto stressed his move did not mean the Senate leadership was opposing Duterte’s proclamation.

“Who am I to judge?” Sotto said, adding the case is best resolved by the Supreme Court.

He said just as the Senate exercised its prerogative to block arrests within its premises, the executive branch is entitled to exercise what it deems to be legal proceedings against Trillanes.

In the morning, Trillanes even presided over a Senate inquiry into Calida’s alleged conflict of interest case involving his family’s security agency.

After suspending the hearing shortly after noon, he immediately left to meet with his colleagues in the minority bloc led by Drilon at the sixth floor of the building. They later proceeded to Sotto’s office across the hall.

After their meeting, Trillanes – apparently heeding Drilon’s advice against yielding to the police – announced that he was placed under the custody of the Senate until the case that would be filed by his lawyers is resolved.

“This is not about not being subjected to arrest. I was jailed before so I’m not evading this. This is about the warrantless arrest that we need to fight. The arresting officers downstairs have no warrant,” Trillanes told reporters.