Trillanes moves to stop resumption of trial for his rebellion case

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has asked the Court of Appeals to stop a Makati court from proceeding with the rebellion case against him.

Trillanes’ petition was filed barely a week before the Makati City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 150 reopens the trial of the rebellion case filed against him for his involvement in the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.

In a 66-page Petition for Certiorari, Prohibition and/or Injunction dated March 11, the Senator said he stands to suffer “grave and/or irreparable damages” if the Makati Court will proceed with the trial of a case dismissed in 2011.

On Sept. 7, 2011, the Makati Court dismissed the rebellion case against Trillanes after then-President Benigno Aquino III granted him amnesty.

However, the amnesty was revoked by President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation 572 as he reportedly failed to comply with the requirements of the grant of amnesty, including the filing of an application form and admitting his guilt.

READ: Duterte revokes Trillanes amnesty, orders his arrest

On Sept. 25, 2018, the Makati court granted the Department of Justice’s plea to reopen the rebellion case and order his rearrest.

Trillanes filed an appeal, but Judge Elmo Alameda denied it and set the resumption of trial with the prosecution’s turn to present evidence on March 20.

READ: Court to resume trial of Trillanes rebellion case

“The Honorable Court a quo’s whimsical and arbitrary act of ignoring established jurisprudence particularly concerning the doctrine on the finality and/or immutability of final decisions, as well as the settled legal principles that amnesty obliterates, erases and places the alleged offense in oblivion and totally completely extinguishes the penalty for the said offense clearly amounts to an evasion of a positive duty on its part and to act in contemplation of the law,” read the petition. /ee