MANILA, Philippines ? President Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino's order for the Department of Justice to review the case of detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was tantamount to presidential meddling in the judiciary and of the Senate, especially with the chamber having only one week to decide on whom to install as its leader, two veteran senators said on Sunday.

The Senate presidential race comes into the picture because should the court release and allow Trillanes to attend Senate sessions, he would likely vote for President Aquino's ally and fellow Liberal Party mate, Sen. Francis Pangilinan.

But both Senators Joker Arroyo and Edgardo Angara, both veteran lawyers, were careful not to slam President Aquino on the issue in their separate interviews, with Arroyo blaming particularly Palace advisers for giving the Chief Executive ``bum advice'' on Trillanes' case and Angara saying he believed the latter to be a ``well-meaning'' person.

This as the race for the Senate presidency appears to be heading towards a stalemate with contenders Pangilinan and Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., still unable to get majority support of 13 senators with only a week to go before the new Congress opens on July 26.

Palace officials the other day denied President Aquino was interfering with the judiciary when he ordered Justice Secretary Leila De Lima to look into the cases against Trillanes and other rebel officers who seized the Oakwood hotel in Makati City in July 2003 to demand the resignation of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the military brass over corruption issues.

Interviewed over dzBB radio, Angara said that President Aquino's ``single'' statement would affect ``several fundamental principles,'' namely the principle of the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary, the independence of the judiciary and the autonomy of the Senate.

Angara said if the case of Trillanes was resolved immediately, it could ``boomerang'' on the President.

``If it comes from no less than the President, it may be subject to various interpretations,'' Angara said.

The courts should be left to address the issue.

``If there was a miscarriage of justice, let the courts redress the issue without anyone telling them to do it because it's inherent in the judicial system,'' he said.

Likewise, he said President Aquino's order could be seen as ``disregarding the military court justice system,'' reminding that Trillanes had undergone court martial for the coup d'etat attempts.

``More important to me on the issue of Senate independence, this may not be related to the desire of (President Aquino's) party to get the Senate leadership, but the timing is so close that people may suspect that this (review) was being done so that Sonny (Trillanes) can vote for its candidate. That (speculation) is what we're trying to avoid,'' Angara said.

In a phone interview with the Inquirer, Angara said President Aquino's statement on the review of Trillanes' case was ``unfortunate.''

``Because of the timing, he (President Aquino) may be suspected of doing this in relation to the choice of Senate president,'' said Angara, who belongs to a bloc in the Senate touted to be the swing vote that would determine the next Senate president.

Angara said his bloc has been intensively wooed in the past week and it would continue to be courted ``I supposed onwards.''

``Our group has observed that there were other forces that are moving in favor of one or the other. And that is what we're trying to avoid because (the Senate presidency issue) is an internal affair of senators. We should not destroy our credibility and effectiveness by displaying our susceptibility to outside forces,'' he said.

The senator declined to elaborate when asked by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Angara said he knew for certain that Sen. Ramon ``Bong'' Revilla had not committed support to Pangilinan, calling the reports ``inaccurate'' and ``baseless.''

He said his bloc would likely have a consensus by Wednesday on whom to support.

Angara's bloc includes Revilla, Senators Loren Legarda, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Lito Lapid, Vicente ``Tito'' Sotto III and Gregorio Honasan.

In a phone interview, Arroyo, meanwhile, said that the DOJ review order was ``presidential interference on a judicial matter.''

Asked whether this was linked to the Senate presidential race, Arroyo declined to comment, ``so as not to becloud the issue of Trillanes.''

Arroyo belongs to Villar's bloc whose members include Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Pia Cayetano, Alan Peter Cayetano and Ferdinand ``Bongbong'' Marcos Jr.

Arroyo said he would not directly criticize President Aquino now to allow him to enjoy his first 100 days in office free of heckling but the senator said this ``immunity does not include his subalterns who give him bum advice.''

``The President's legal advisers should understand that every word of the President, formal or informal, is a statement of policy. It cannot be trivialized. It cannot be classified as a personal opinion. He is President every second of the day,'' Arroyo said.

Arroyo said the case of Trillanes was already in court and thus ``in plain language, once the executive files the case in court...the executive should no longer interfere.''

He reminded parties concerned that the Supreme Court already ruled that the election to public office ``did not wipe out the charges against Trillanes,'' following the senator's bid to ask the court to allow him to perform his duties as senator.

Arroyo said that the executive and the courts for instance could not interfere in the Senate's prerogative to give Trillanes ``his compensation, allowances and all perks and monies that each senator receives.''

``By the same token, allowing Trillanes to participate fully or partially with the Senate duties, the sole and final say is with the courts. The executive cannot interfere with that,'' he said, adding that this has been why the Armed Forces could not interfere in a case against Trillanes now with a civilian court.

Meanwhile, Sotto said that even if Trillanes attended the session on July 26 and cast his vote for Pangilinan, the race would still end up in a stalemate.

A stalemate would still happen if Lapid and Revilla, who belonged to Angara's bloc, had decided to go for Pangilinan, Sotto said.

``Do your math. There will still be 11 senators who will not vote for Pangilinan,'' he said in a phone interview.

There are only 23 senators ?but Trillanes remains under military detention while Sen. Panfilo Lacson has been in hiding for more than six months now and faces arrest upon return if the court does not act on his petition to dismiss the DOJ finding of his involvement in the murders of publicist Salvador ``Bubby'' Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito in December 2000.

(Lacson has denied having a role in the murders and said has made it known through his representatives that he has been hiding to avoid persecution by the Arroyo administration, whose anomalies he had exposed.)

Pangilinan's camp said last week the senator already had the support of 10 senators ?Revilla, Lapid, Trillanes, Franklin Drilon, Serge Osmena, Francis Escudero, TG Guingona, Ralph Recto, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada.

Estrada had said Revilla would likely support Pangilinan. Estrada was in the United States last week and said he would try to convince Revilla who was in the US as well.

But Sotto said Lapid and Revilla might just be "working for a stalemate,'' but he did not know their exact objectives.

Sotto said he did not think Lapid and Revilla were abandoning Angara's group.