MANILA — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday underscored the importance of proceeding with the amnesty cases against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, saying it serves as a deterrent for like-minded military adventurism in the future.
“With all due respect, pursuing one to answer for the crime of rebellion or coup d’état is not a useless exercise, as it sends a warning to all similarly minded persons who have devious plans of endangering the security of the republic,” Guevarra told reporters.
The justice chief’s remarks were in response to some lawmakers’ call for the executive to back down from the cases following the decision of Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano which was released on Monday.
“The Makati Br. 148 order is not the final word on the matter. Any other judge could have appreciated the same evidence differently,” Guevarra underscored, reiterating that the Supreme Court (SC) will ultimately decide on Trillanes’ fate.
The court upheld the validity of President Rodrigo Duterte’s proclamation against the grant of amnesty to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV but said it can no longer order Trillanes’ arrest as sought by the government citing “the legal doctrine that a final and executory judgment shall be immutable”.
In a 33-page order, Soriano found “no basis to believe that Proclamation 572 has breached any constitutional guaranty or that it has encroached on the constitutional power of either the judicial and executive branch”.
Soriano said that while he may no longer order Trillanes arrest, a future situation may be more favorable to the government’s cause.
“Meanwhile, the law is vibrant. Jurisprudence is its lifeblood. Subsequent jurisprudence may forge new horizons in which exceptions to the immutability of a final and executory judgment may be born,” Soriano said in the same order.
The magistrate said that in voiding the grant of amnesty to Trillanes, Proclamation 572 “merely sought to correct what the executive branch perceives to be an erroneous grant of amnesty to Trillanes, who allegedly did not apply for amnesty and who failed to admit guilt and/or participation and involvement in, among others, the Oakwood Mutiny, and/or otherwise failed to recant previous statements contrary to such admissions.”
The court turned down the government’s plea for an arrest warrant and a hold departure order against the lawmaker citing that the judgment clearing the lawmaker had long been final and executory.
“The dismissal (of the case) has become final and executory,” Soriano said, citing the legal doctrine of “immutability of a final and executory judgment,” adding that the court had lost jurisdiction over the case after it had lapsed into becoming final.
Proclamation 572, signed by Duterte on Aug. 31, declared Trillanes’ amnesty void ab initio (from the beginning).
Based on the proclamation, 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 2003 Oakwood Mutiny, the February 2006 Marines stand-off and the November 2007 Manila Peninsula incident.
The proclamation also tasked the AFP and the PNP “to employ all lawful means to apprehend former (Lieutenant Senior Grade) Antonio Trillanes so that he can be recommitted to the detention facility where he had been incarcerated for him to stand trial for the crimes he is charged with,” citing the power of the President under Article VII, Sec. 19 of the Constitution to grant amnesty.
Former President Benigno Aquino III granted amnesty to Trillanes and other soldiers who were involved in the said uprisings through Proclamation 75 issued in November 2010.