Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV made his general admission of guilt before he took his oath on his filled-out amnesty application form, a military official said in an affidavit submitted before the Makati City Regional Trial Court.
Col. Josefa C. Berbigal, currently a commissioned officer of the Judge Advocate General’s Office (JAGO), said she was the one who processed the application for amnesty filed by those who benefitted under Proclamation No. 75 of then President Benigno Aquino III.
“Among the applications for amnesty which our committee processed was that of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV which was filed on Jan. 5, 2011,” Berbigal’s affidavit said.
“Before accepting his application, I asked Sen. Trillanes to read the pre-printed statement contained therein making a general admission of his guilt for his alleged offenses before asking him to take his oath for the said amnesty application,” Berbigal said.
Besides Bergigal’s affidavit, Trillanes also submitted before the court the affidavit of Honorio S. Azcueta, former undersecretary of the Department of National Defense (DND). Azcueta was also the chairman of the DND Ad Hoc Amnesty Committee that processed the applications for amnesty filed under Proclamation 75 of Aquino.
He said he was tasked with receiving the applications and reviewing them to determine who were qualified.
“As such, the amnesty applications which were recommended to be for approval by the Committee, including that of Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV, underwent the necessary and the applicable procedures set in Proclamation No. 75 and the DND circular,” Azcueta said.
The Trillanes camp reiterated that the sole basis of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation No. 572 revoking the amnesty given to Trillanes was a certification from a certain Lt. Col. Thea Joan N. Andrade, chief of Discipline, Law and Order Division of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, J1.
The senator’s lawyers told the court that even the certification issued by Andrade failed to state that Trillanes did not file an application.
They pointed out that the only thing stated in the certification was that “there is no available copy of his application for amnesty in the records.”
The affidavits of the two officials, as well as other evidence, were included in the rejoinder submitted before the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 as Trillanes maintained that the case for rebellion hasdlong been dismissed and can no longer be revived by Duterte’s proclamation.
With the submission of the rejoinder, the motion submitted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to order the senator’s arrest, issue a hold departure order and resume the trial on the rebellion case has been submitted for resolution.
Aside from Makati RTC Branch 150, the DOJ also has a similar motion filed before Makati RTC Branch 148 which handles the coup d’etat case for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny. /atm