Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER.net file photo / CATHY MIRANDA
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Tuesday said there is no politics involved in the Justice department’s indictment of former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for conspiracy to commit sedition.
“We never engage in politics,” Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a press briefing when asked if there was politics involved in the indictment of Trillanes, who is a staunch critic of the Duterte administration.
“They have the opportunity to defend themselves. Again, the President says, let the law take its course. There are remedies available to them. They should avail of them,” Panelo added.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended the filing of sedition case against Trillanes and 10 others regarding the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos.
At the same time, the DOJ cleared Vice President Leni Robredo and other members of the opposition’s senatorial slate Otso Diretso of sedition and other complaints.
Panelo stressed that President Rodrigo Duterte does not meddle with any of the agencies’ affairs.
“Well as a matter of policy, the President does not interfere in any proceedings involving the departments. If that is the finding of the Department of Justice, as he keeps on saying, let the law take its course,” Panelo said.
“You know the prosecutors, those investigation prosecutors know their tasks to find probable cause. If the evidence presented to them does not show there is, then they have no other alternative but to dismiss the case,” he added.
Robredo, meanwhile, said the dismissal of the sedition case was an affirmation that it was merely political harassment and that her supposed involvement on the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos was just “fabricated.”