Makati RTC Branch 148 defers ruling on DOJ’s plea vs. Trillanes

The Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148 on Friday, September 28, deferred its ruling on the motion by Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue an arrest warrant and hold departure order (HDO) against Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV over his coup d’etat case in connection with the 2003 Oakwood mutiny.

“Premises considered, the resolution of the very urgent ex-parte omnibus motion for the issuance of hold departure order (HDO) and alias warrant of arrest against Antonio Trillanes IV is deferred,” Rey Robles, Trillanes’s lawyer, said as he read the dispositive portion of the court’s three-page order.

“Accordingly, without necessarily reopening the case and/or giving due course to the prosecution’s urgent ex-parte omnibus motion and pursuant to the leeway given by the Supreme Court (SC) in its resolution dated September 11, 2018 set this case for reception of the parties’ evidence on October 5, 2018 at the 9 in the morning, with the following factual issues: whether or not Trillanes filed the requisite application for amnesty under Proclamation 75 before he was granted amnesty in 2011, and whether or not there was an admission of guilt on his part at the time he applied for and was granted amnesty,” he added.

This decision came after the Makati RTC Branch 150, on Tuesday, granted the request of the DOJ when it issued an arrest warrant and HDO against Trillanes over his rebellion case in relation to the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege. It also set bail for the senator at P200,000.

Trillanes earlier posted bail after undergoing booking procedures at the Makati City police headquarters that include taking of mugshots.

Back in the Senate halls after posting bail, the senator said he hopes President Rodrigo Duterte was watching him undergo through those procedures as the Chief Executive will also “experience it soon.”

He also believed that the President will soon be held accountable for his crimes.

“Kung maililigpit mo man ako, meron at merong papalit sa akin at sa dakong huli ikaw rin ang matatalo at harapin mo ‘yung mga kasalanan na ginawa mo (If you are able to get rid of me, there will always be someone who will replace me and in the end, you will lose and you will face the consequences of your sins),” the former mutineer said.

The DOJ’s petition came after Duterte, through Proclamation No. 572, revoked the amnesty granted to the senator by the administration of former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.