Trillanes’ amnesty revocation needs congressional concurrence

FILE: UNDER SENATE CUSTODY. Reporters interview Senator Antonio Trilllanes IV, with Senator Risa Hontiveros (right), as he walks along the hallway of the Senate to meet Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III to discuss the issues of his arrest on Tuesday (Sept. 4, 2018) after his amnesty has been revoked. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA — An opposition lawmaker on Tuesday insisted that President Rodrigo Duterte’s revocation of the amnesty granted to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV requires congressional concurrence.

President Duterte signed on August 31 Proclamation No. 572 voiding the amnesty granted to Trillanes in 2010.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said any revocation of amnesty should be subject to the concurrence of an “absolute majority” of all the members of Congress.

“Since a presidential declaration of amnesty needs the concurrence of the majority of all the members of both the House and the Senate pursuant to Section 19 of Article VII of the Constitution, any revocation, if at all allowable, needs the same congressional concurrence,” Lagman said.

Lagman said Proclamation No. 75, issued by former president Benigno Aquino III, was concurred in by Congress and does not provide for any revocation clause.

He also noted that an amnesty is “final, absolute, and irrevocable” unlike a presidential conditional pardon.

Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, however, argued that the amnesty revocation does not need the concurrence of Congress because it was void ab initio (from the beginning).

Guevarra said the basis for revocation was due to Trillanes’ failure to apply for the amnesty in line with the Oakwood mutiny in 2003 and Manila Peninsula siege in 2007 that he and his fellow soldiers from Magdalo spearheaded against former president and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Based on the Proclamation No. 572, Trillanes has no pending application for amnesty granted to all active and former personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and supporters who joined the July 27, 2003 Oakwood Mutiny, the February 2006 Marines stand-off and the Nov. 29, 2007 Manila Peninsula incident.

Guevarra said the revocation is final and executory for now.