Lorenzana, AFP officials face Trillanes in Senate

INQUIRER.NET PHOTO/CATHY MIRANDA

Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV came face-to-face with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and other military officials at a Senate on Tuesday, their first encounter since President Rodrigo Duterte revoked the amnesty given to him.

Trillanes, who has been ordered arrested by the President through Proclamation No. 572, attended the hearing of the Senate committee on finance on the proposed budget of the Department of National Defense (DND) headed by Lorenzana.

As of posting, the senator was asking questions about the DND’s budget.

The face-to-face was the first after Duterte ordered the arrest of Trillanes following the revocation of the amnesty granted to him by then-President Benigno Aquino III.

In his proclamation, the President directed the Department of Justice and the Court Marshall of the Armed Forces of the Philippines “to pursue all criminal and administrative charges” against the senator.

This prompted Trillanes to stay in the Senate since the proclamation came out in the media last September 4 for fear of being arrested.

The senator only left his sanctuary in the chamber after he posted bail for rebellion pending before the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 and after another court, Makati RTC Branch 140, deferred ruling on the non-bailable case of coup d’ etat against him.

Both cases have been revived by the courts following the President’s proclamation. /cbb

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