Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV. (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV was granted permission by the Court of Appeals to travel to Singapore and to the United States from August 28 to September 22.
Trillanes will be going to the said countries to attend courses at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in the US.
A Makati City regional trial court earlier issued a hold departure order (HDO) against Trillanes in connection with a libel case he is facing.
In a resolution signed by Associate Justices Michael Ong, Marlene Gonzalez-Sison and Gabriel Robeniol, the Court of Appeals said it was convinced that Trillanes is “not a flight risk and is this entitled to temporary lifting of his ban to travel abroad for the period of 28 August 2022 to 22 September 2022.”
This was as the Court of Appeals considered the fact that his prior requests for travel had been approved by the court and that he had always returned and obeyed with court orders.
The Court added that Trillanes’ current teaching profession in the Philippines and his standing as a public figure, “further strengthen our belief that there is little to no risk that he might abscond to another country to escape the territorial jurisdiction of the courts.”
“All these factors are sufficient to convince Us to grant the accused-appellant’s motion to temporarily travel abroad for the period above specified,” said the Court of Appeals.
“Foregoing considered, accused-appellant’s ‘Manifestation and Motion for Leave of the Honorable Court to Travel to Singapore and the United States from August 28, 2022 to Sept. 22, 2022’ is GRANTED,” it added.
With this, Trillanes is permitted to travel to Singapore and the US for the same time period under the same P100,000 cash bond he previously posted for his past travels.
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