Contrary to the claim of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV informed the various courts where he had pending cases of his plans to travel abroad before he left the country.
“With all due respect, the honorable Secretary has apparently been misinformed,” said the senator’s lawyer Reynaldo Robles.
Guevarra was quoted as saying that Trillanes should ask for the courts’ permission to travel abroad even if there was no hold departure order against him.
He said Trillanes left for a monthlong trip without informing the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150, where he had a pending rebellion case.
Robles said Trillanes was aware of his obligation to inform all courts where he had pending cases of his plans to fly out of the country.
These include Branch 150 of the Makati Regional Trial Court and Branch 54 of the Davao Regional Trial Court, where he has a libel case, he said.
Trillanes filed the appropriate motions or manifestations, he said.
Branch 150 granted Trillanes’ motion for leave to travel abroad over the objections of the prosecutor, he said.
Trillanes also filed a manifestation with urgent motion advising the Davao court of his travel plans on Dec. 10, a day before he left for the Netherlands, he added.
Trillanes is on a monthlong trip abroad for various speaking engagements.
His travel plans came in the wake of the Duterte administration’s efforts to put him behind bars by revoking the amnesty granted to him by former President Benigno Aquino III for leading two failed mutinies in the early 2000s.