THE Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Monday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss the petition filed by beleaguered opposition Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV, seeking to void President Duterte’s Proclamation 572 issued on August 31 that nullified the amnesty given to him by the Aquino administration.
In an 81-page comment, Solicitor General Jose C. Calida argued that Proclamation 572 is valid considering that the grant of amnesty to Trillanes under Proclamation 75 was issued in violation of the 1987 Constitution.
Calida specifically said the grant of amnesty to Trillanes violated Section 19, Article VII, of the Constitution, which mandates that only the President may grant amnesty.
In the case of the senator, it was signed by former Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and not by then-President Benigno S. Aquino III as required by law.
“The power to grant clemency is a ‘non-delegable power,’ and solely the President’s prerogative, which must be exercised by the President personally and exclusively,” he pointed out.
Calida added Trillanes’s amnesty is invalid considering his failure to comply with the requirements to qualify for such.
President Duterte has said that Trillanes failed to file a sworn application with his admission of guilt, which are the two main requirements in order to be given an amnesty.
“More than the requisite formal requirement, the petitioner did not at all admit his guilt. He stated repeatedly in public that he does not admit committing the crimes charged against him and that the charges are erroneous,” the comment further read.
Calida claimed that Trillanes deceived the trial courts into granting his motions to dismiss the coup d’etat and rebellion charges filed against him for his participation in several failed attempts to overthrow the Arroyo administration.
The Solicitor General said the trial courts dismissed the said cases on the premise that the amnesty issued to Trillanes was valid.
In line with Proclamation 572, the Department of Justice has moved to resurrect the coup d’etat and rebellion cases that were dismissed by the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 and Makati RTC Branch 150, respectively.
The cases were filed in connection with the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege that were staged by Trillanes along with his fellow Magdalo soldiers.
The chief government counsel also dismissed Trillanes argument that Proclamation 572 violated the constitutional grant of “shared power” between the Executive and Legislative branches, his rights to due process and equal protection, as well as the rule on double jeopardy.
It can be recalled that the SC has denied Trillanes’s plea for the issuance of a temporary restraining order to enjoin government authorities from bringing him back to jail on the basis of Proclamation 572.
The Court held that the trial courts in Makati City should be first allowed to hear and resolve the pleadings filed by the DOJ and Trillanes with regard to the legality of Proclamation 572.