DOJ: Trillanes can’t travel yet

Sen. Antonio Trillanes may have the fresh warrants of arrest issued against him by a Davao City court already lifted, but the Department of Justice (DOJ) said he might need to put on hold his scheduled travel to Europe on Tuesday.

Trillanes on Monday posted a total bail of P96,000, or P24,000 for each of the four libel charges filed against him by President Duterte’s son, Paolo Duterte, in the sala of Presiding Judge Rowena Nieves Tan of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 118.

Tan consequently lifted the four warrants of arrest issued by Judge Melinda Alconcel-Dayanghirang of Davao City RTC Branch 54 on Dec. 7.

But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Trillanes could not yet leave the country, as he needed to seek the permission of the Davao court to allow him to travel.

Guevarra previously said DOJ prosecutors had filed motions for the issuance of hold departure order (HDO) in Pasay and Davao courts where Trillanes had pending criminal cases.

Guevarra said that “as part of the due process, the Davao City RTC gave [Trillanes] five days (from last Friday) to file his comment or opposition” regarding the prosecution’s motion for the court to issue an HDO.

“The matter of getting Davao court’s permission to travel is between [Trillanes] and the court. If he travels without court permission, that is his own lookout,” Guevarra said. —Dexter Cabalza