THE Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), a national organization of lawyers, has warned that the attempt of the Duterte administration to put opposition Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV behind bars would undermine the judicial process and can be considered an “attack” against the independence of the Judiciary.
This developed as the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City on Monday gave temporary relief to Trillanes after it denied the motion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to rule on its motion for the issuance of a hold departure order and an alias arrest warrant against the senator without having to conduct a hearing.
In a three-page order, Makati RTC Branch 150 Presiding Judge Elmo Alamed said acting on the motion of the prosecution without hearing Trillanes’s side would be in violation of his constitutionally guaranteed right to due process.
Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana, for his part, has admitted that the decision of the Supreme Court on the issue of amnesty involving Trillanes will also have an impact on the amnesty granted to other former military mutineers, including those who are already part of the Duterte administration.
While refusing to pass of the merits on the case filed by Trillanes before the high tribunal that seeks to nullify President Duterte’s invalidation of the senator’s amnesty granted during the Aquino administration, Lorenzana said the court’s verdict will also affect the cases of other former officers, including retired Brig. Gen. Danilo D. Lim, now general manager of the Metro Manila Development Authority and former Marine Capt. Nicanor E. Faeldon, who is now with the Office of the Civil Defense.
“An independent and impartial Judiciary remains the most powerful bastion that protects our cherished constitutional rights against the excesses of political power. As the sentinel of the rule of law, the IBP stands ready to come to the defense of the independence and impartiality of our Judiciary,” the IBP said in a news statement issued through its president, lawyer Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo.
Fajardo said the IBP is alarmed over the issuance by Duterte of Proclamation 572, which rendered as “void ab initio” the previous administration’s grant of amnesty to Trillanes pursuant to Proclamation 75, Series of 2010.
The IBP insisted that amnesty, once granted, cannot be nullified by the invocation of the words void ab initio since it is “an exercise of sovereign power that automatically confers upon the grantee vested rights appurtenant to the obliteration of the offense with which he
is charged.”
“A person released by amnesty stands before the law precisely as though he had committed no offense,” it noted.
Trillanes was given amnesty by former President Benigno S. Aquino III together with other Magdalo soldiers who were behind the series of attempts to overthrow the Arroyo administration
Prior to the grant of amnesty, they were charged with a case for coup d’etat before Makati RTC Branch 148 for the Oakwood mutiny in 2003 and a case for rebellion before Makati RTC Branch 150 for the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.
Both the two cases have been dismissed in 2011 following the grant of amnesty.
However, the President said the grant of amnesty to Trillanes was null and void for his failure to comply with the basic requirements of submitting an application form along with his admission of guilt.
‘Calida sought records’
Lorenzana, likewise, admitted that it was Solicitor General Jose C. Calida who asked for the amnesty record of Trillanes on August 16, which the military certified two weeks later that it does not have copy of the document.
The defense chief said that the “research” by Calida’s office on the senator’s amnesty record at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also included the other former officers who applied and were also granted
amnesty.
He said the inquiry covered more than 100 former officers.
Lorenzana also denied “rumors” that the case of Trillanes is dividing the military or it was creating instability in the uniformed service.
“Somebody is doing a story that many officers are already disgruntled, but we are not seeing anybody,” he said.
On Monday Trillanes assured Lorenzana and even AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galves that he or his group is not cooking any attempt to destabilize the
government.
Malacañang, meanwhile, said that former Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin could be liable for usurpation of authority when he signed both the recommendation and certificate granting amnesty to Trillanes.
Although former President Aquino issued Proclamation No. 75 in 2010 granting amnesty to Trillanes and other military mutineers, Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. maintained that the President should be the one to personally grant the amnesty and not his secretary.
“The President’s belief as a lawyer is that an amnesty must be personally granted by the President, it cannot be further delegated to other officials. It is a presidential prerogative so the position of the President is that only the President should have signed the order of amnesty,” Roque said. With Bernadette D. Nicolas
Image credits: AP