Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. INQUIRER file photo / JOAN BONDOC
AMMAN, Jordan–The Duterte administration wants opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to be in jail again as it stands by President Rodrigo Duterte’s proclamation voiding the senator’s amnesty.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque denied that Trillanes was “politically oppressed with the voiding of his presidential amnesty.”
READ: Duterte revokes Trillanes amnesty, orders his arrest
“Tapos, anong political oppression ang sinasabi nila? Wala ngang tigil ang mga banat nya kay Presidente. Siya ang patunay na gumagana ang demokrasya sa Pilipinas, dahil walang tigil ang banat niya sa Presidente at sa pamilya ng Presidente so walang katuturan yan,” he said in an interview here.
(What political oppression are they talking about? His criticisms of the President has been relentless. He is the proof that democracy is alive in the Philippines because his criticisms against the President and his family have been relentless, so his claim is nonsense).
Asked if the government wants to see Trillanes in jail again, Roque said, “Well, yan po ang gusto pong mangyari ng gobyerno.”
(Well, that’s what the government wants to happen.)
Duterte signed Proclamation 572 on August 31 to void the senator’s amnesty given by former President Benigno Aquino III in 2010.
The President said Trillanes did not file an Official Amnesty Application Form and “never expressed his guilt for the crimes that were committed on the occasion of the Oakwood Mutiny and the Manila Peninsula Siege.”
On Thursday, the camp of Trillanes filed before the Supreme Court a petition for certiorari and prohibition to challenge the constitutionality of the President’s procalmation.
The camp of Trillanes has shown video and a copy of his application for manesty to dispute Malacañang’s claim.
“Palace [is] standing by [the President’s] proclamation. He’s [Trillanes] gone to court. Government can defend its position in court,” Roque told reporters here.
He said the government wanted Trillanes to be liable for the crime he has commited.
Trillanes, then a former Navy officer, was arrested and put to jail after he led the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 to oppose then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration they claimed marred with corruption.
In 2007, he also led the Manila Peninsula siege to call for Arroyo’s ouster.
“Pananagutan po ang nais nating mangyari. Hindi pupuwede na ang isang tao na gumawa ng krimen ay hindi mapapanagot sa kanyang gawain,” Roque said. /jpv