Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV is facing possible imprisonment anew after being charged for allegedly insighting a coup d’etat charges and suggesting to soldiers to shoot President Duterte, amid charges of hidden wealth during a privilege speech in the Senate last month.
It can be recalled that Trillanes was jailed after leading the so-called Magdalo soldiers in a failed mutiny to overthrow the Arroyo administration.
However, they were cleared of coup d’etat charges after being granted amnesty by former President Benigno S. Aquino III in 2010.
This time, a group of lawyers, led by former representatives Jacinto Paras and Glenn Chong, charged Trillanes before the Pasay City prosecutor’s office with inciting to sedition, proposal to commit coup d’etat and graft before the Pasay city prosecutor’s office.
They cited as basis for the complaint the statement of Trillanes during his speech that soldiers may shoot the President upon the latter’s wish if the allegations of hidden wealth would be proven.
“Now, Mr. Duterte said he can be shot dead if there is P40 million in his accounts. He said that in front of the soldiers. So here’s the answer now. If the soldiers could see this, they will use an M60 machine gun on you. These are many. The magazines will be emptied if you’re looking for P40 million, Mr. Duterte,” the complaint quoted the lawmaker as saying in Filipino.
The complainants said Trillanes’s speech could be tantamount to “conspiracy or proposal to commit coup d’etat and inciting to sedition,” as he encouraged the military to go up against the President and that he should be indicted under Articles 136 and 142 of the Revised Penal Code.
In the said privilege speech on October 3, Trillanes accused Duterte of having bank accounts with transactions amounting to over P2 billion from September 2006 to December 2015.
The complainants’ counsel, Manuelito Luna, explained that the speeches made by Trillanes, including his privilege speech in the Senate, are not protected by immunity from suits.
“The October 3 privilege speech against the President and the government is not protected speech under the Speech or Debate Clause, in light of the holdings in US v. Brewster and Heltoski v. US. Neither was his speech during the launching of Tindig Pilipinas’s signature gathering against the President nor his media statements [are] protected,” Luna said.
Furthermore, the complainant cited the senator’s speech during the launch of the Tindig Pilipinas movement on October 14, involving Duterte’s alleged account deposits.
In the said gathering, Trillanes delivered a speech disclosing several details of the supposed bank deposits of the President.
He claimed that one of the alleged accounts had deposits of P50 million at least 13 times.
The senator also said that, in another bank account, there were at least 20 deposits of P40 million to P50 million each.
Trillanes further insinuated that Duterte bought in just one day insurance for his four children worth P80 million.
He said he has evidence consisting of bank-transaction records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council, which denied such a claim.
The complainants alleged that the senator’s acts of rumor mongering and spreading false information were unlawful.
They explained that such acts had caused undue injury against the administration “through evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence,” and should be penalized under Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).
The complainants said Trillanes should be indicted “for irresponsibly and recklessly and continuously accusing sans evidence, that the President is keeping over P2 billion in bank accounts and or amassing illegally acquired wealth.”
“Trillanes not only repeatedly uttered seditious words or speeches and unabatedly circulated scurrilous libels against the President, which tend to disturb the public peace, but also repeatedly incited others to inflict any hate or revenge,” they added.
The group included other unidentified personalities as respondents in the complaint.
The lawyers also noted Trillanes’s involvement in several mutinies during the Arroyo administration—Oakwood Mutiny in July 2003, the Marine standoff in February 2006 and the Manila Peninsula siege in November 2007.