Trillanes to stay in Senate until final court ruling on his amnesty grant

Upon the advice of his lawyers, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has decided to stay in the Senate until the courts decide with finality on President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation 572.

“I was advised by my lawyers to just wait for the final resolution of the courts, nullifying the proclamation ni Duterte, revoking the amnesty,” Trillanes told reporters on Friday.

“So yun matutuldukan na yun. There won’t be any ambiguity anymore,” he said.

The Supreme Court (SC) has already junked Trillanes’ petition against the proclamation which revoked his amnesty and ordered his arrest.

Instead, the SC decided to just refer the case to the Makati courts, which are now handling the Department of Justice’s bid to have the senator arrested.

READ: SC refers Trillanes case to Makati RTC

On Thursday, the senator was supposed to leave the Senate “quietly” but later changed his mind when two unidentified men allegedly tailed his vehicle when it went out of the Senate to refuel.

Also after announcing to media that he would try to leave the chamber, Trillanes noted the sudden augmentation of security forces outside the Senate.

So when asked if he would try to leave the chamber again, the senator said: “Hindi na. Sinabihan ako na huwag na.”

The senator though said he expects that there would be attempts to arrest him once he steps out of the Senate.

“But it runs counter to their guarantees na hindi (ako aarestuhin),” he pointed out.

“So in the meantime, the decision is to stay in the Senate until ma-resolve yung court cases,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes has been staying in the Senate since September 4 after Duterte’s proclamation was reported by the media.  /muf