Still no arrest warrant, HDO for Trillanes

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 150 has refused to issue an arrest warrant and a hold departure order against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

“The reliefs applied for involves the issuance of a warrant of arrest of a case that has long been dismissed by this court,” Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda said in a three-page order released Monday.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), in an urgent motion filed last week urged the court to issue a hold departure order and an alias warrant of arrest against the senator after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the revocation of Trillanes’ amnesty via Proclamation No. 572 signed on August 31.

The presidential directive stated that Trillanes’ amnesty is void ab initio since the senator failed to file the application for it and admit his guilt over botched mutinies in 2003 and 2007. Trillanes’ amnesty was granted to him in 2011 by then President Benigno S. Aquino III.

The DOJ argued that since Trillanes’ amnesty is declared void from the beginning, the dismissal of the case by the Makati Court does not hold water and a warrant of arrest must be issued against the senator even without a hearing.

“Obviously, the motion cannot be called a non-litigable or non-litigated motion such that it can be acted upon by this court ex-parte without prejudicing the right of the accused to be heard,” the court said.

Thus, the Makati RTC Branch 150 has set the hearing on the case for September 14. /kga