It has only been a few days since 2019 started but Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is already facing yet another complaint, this time, he was charged with grave threats for allegedly threatening the life of Labor Undersecretary Jacinto “Jing” Paras.
In a document released to reporters on Friday, January 11, the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office found probable cause to indict Trillanes for grave threats due to the complaint filed last June by Paras who claimed that the senator threatened to “kill” him during a Senate hearing on May 29, 2018.
“Sabi niya ‘Yayariin kita. Ang lakas ng loob mo! ‘Yung amo mo matatapos din ‘yan at yayariin kita. Mersenaryo ka. Yayariin kita (He said ‘I will end you. You have the guts! Your boss will end and I will end you. You are a mercenary. I will end you),’” the undersecretary told the media.
The Labor official added that Senator Miguel Zubiri even meddled between him and Trillanes and calmed down his co-senator. But after this, Paras claimed that he once again received the same threat from the lawmaker when they encountered each other near the elevator.
Trillanes, on the other hand, denied Paras’s allegations.
[READ: DOLE Usec files complaint vs Trillanes for alleged grave threats]
Assistant City Prosecutor Janette Herpas-Baggas said such words allegedly uttered by Trillanes created “fear and anxiety” on the mind of Paras “that the threats will be carried out.”
“I have conducted a preliminary investigation of this case in accordance with law, that the complainant was personally examined and that on the basis of the sworn statement and other evidence presented, there is reasonable ground to believe that the crime charged has been committed,” Baggas said.
Judge Joeven Dellosa, in his order dated December 14 but was only made public on Friday, has set the arraignment and preliminary conference of Trillanes’s case on February 15 at 8:30 a.m.
“The private complainant is directed to appear before the Court on the same date for purposes of plea bargaining, where allowed, and notification of trial dates,” Dellosa said.
Face it squarely
Responding on the legal challenge which he called as another “harassment case” lodged against him, Trillanes vowed to face it “squarely” in the court.
The senator, who is a vocal critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, said the justice in the latter’s administration has indeed turned “upside down.”
“Siya [Duterte] itong pinapatay mismo ang mga ordinaryong Pilipino, pinapa-rape ang mga babae sa mga sundalo, pinapa-kidnap at torture ang mga COA [Commission on Audit] auditors at pinapa-holdup ang mga bishops, tapos ako ang pinakasuhan niya ng grave threats sa mga bata niya? Baliw talaga (Duterte was the one who asks the killing of ordinary Filipinos, orders soldiers to rape women, wants COA auditors to be kidnapped and tortured, and wants bishops to be robbed, yet he orders his minions to file grave threats case against me? He really is crazy),” the opposition solon said.
Trillanes went overseas last December for speaking engagements. He just arrived in the country last Wednesday to “show these people that I am not afraid of them.”
Grave threat is only one of the cases Trillanes is facing under the Duterte administration aside from his pending rebellion case, inciting to sedition case, and libel case.