Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano speaks in a forum on September 5, 2018 amid the furor surrounding the revocation of amnesty granted to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s amnesty by the Aquino administration. PHOTO by Ryan Leagogo/INQUIRER.net
Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano said Wednesday that putting Senator Antonio Trillanes IV behind bars could have been easy if President Rodrigo Duterte had accepted the senator’s challenge to waive bank secrecy laws.
“Kung gusto nilang i-kulong si Senator Trillanes, eh sandali lang hindi na kailangang bali-baliin ang mga proseso (If they want to jail Senator Trillanes, that would be easy. They don’t need to bend the rules or processes),” Alejano said in a forum on Wednesday.
“Kung pinirmahan mo na lang iyong waiver ni Presidente Duterte at i-prove niyang nagsisinungaling si Trillanes, wala nang kuskos-balungos, papasok na siya sa kulungan, magresign pa siya as senator, tapos (If only the President had signed the waiver and proved that Trillanes was wrong, the senator could go straight to jail. He can also resign as senator),” he said in jest.
According to Alejano, this would have spared government officials from the difficulty of finding a way to put Trillanes behind bars.
“Napakabilis, hindi ‘yong hahanapan mo ng hindi siya nag-file, na ang liwanag naman, ako kasama ako doon na nag-file (That would be fast, instead of finding some loopholes like he didn’t sign an application for amnesty, etc. I was one of those who filed for amnesty),” he added.
In October 2017, Trillanes challenged the President to sign a document with him, waiving their privilege to bank secrecy laws.
However, Duterte said he already has a standing waiver, and that he would not sign additional documents to appease the senator. He dared Trillanes instead to build up his own case, instead of asking the accused to prove accusations.
READ: Trillanes to Duterte: Just sign the bank waiver
READ: Duterte spurns Trillanes dare to sign bank waiver
Alejano also reiterated Trillanes’ claim that they filed an application for amnesty before Congress, contrary to the claim of government officials that they did not file such petitions.
“We filed the application for the amnesty […] Merong committee na nagpa-process niyan (There is a committee processing that). It was even covered by [the] media,” Alejano said, referring to the evidence that Trillanes presented on Tuesday.
The President ordered the arrest of Trillanes on Tuesday, based on Proclamation 572 signed on August 31, which revoked the amnesty given to the senator in relation to his involvement in uprisings in 2003 and 2007.
Trillanes. however, called the “baseless proclamation” and the ‘warrantless arrest’ as attempts to silence him, as he is one of the administration’s staunchest critics. /ee
READ: Duterte revokes Trillanes amnesty, orders his arrest
READ: Trillanes opts to stay in Senate despite absence of arrest warrant