Palace: Law is now catching up on Trillanes

MALACAÑANG welcomed Tuesday, January 8, the move of the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 150 to deny Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’S motion for reconsideration on the arrest order issued following the revocation of his amnesty.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Makati court’s decision only demonstrates that the law is finally catching up on Trillanes.

“The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 has upheld its earlier decision to issue a warrant of arrest against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. The Palace respects this decision of the trial court in finding sufficient grounds to deny Senator Trillanes’ motion for reconsideration,” Panelo said.

“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 added.

In an order dated December 18 but released on January 7, the Makati RTC Branch 150 stood by its September 25, 2018 ruling, ordering the arrest of Trillanes for the crime the former Navy officer committed during the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.

The court, in its latest decision, maintained that there was “factual and legal basis” for President Rodrigo Duterte to issue Proclamation 572, which revoked the amnesty granted to Trillanes by the Aquino government for supposed failure to comply with the requirements needed for the validity of amnesty.

Panelo said the court’s ruling should be a reminder to “departing” Trillanes and others who are prone to challenge the majesty of the law that “it is no respecter of anyone regardless of the political and social status of the violator.”

“Senator Trillanes’s 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,” he added./