Trillanes asks Makati court to junk DOJ bid for his arrest

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has asked a Makati court to deny the government's attempt to have him arrested after President Rodrigo Duterte nullified the amnesty he was granted seven years ago.

Trillanes' lawyers on Monday urged the Makati Regional Trial Court's Branch 148 to reject the Department of Justice's (DOJ) motion for the issuance of arrest and travel ban orders against the opposition senator for procedural and substantive deficiencies.

The 15-page court filing contains arguments that echo Trillanes' public statements since last week, when a presidential proclamation declared that his amnesty for his participation in military uprisings was void from the start.

The coup d'etat case over the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny cannot be revived or reopened after its dismissal  -- which went uncontested by the government -- in September 2011 became "final and executory,"  the senator's lawyers argued in the filing.

Because of the case dismissal on the ground of the amnesty grant, Branch 148 has lost jurisdiction over Trillanes and thus cannot entertain the DOJ motion seeking his arrest, they added, citing jurisprudence.

"Verily, no alias warrant for the arrest of hold departure order for former accused Trillanes can be issued in this case because this case had long been terminated and dismissed," they said.

Again citing jurisprudence, they argued that the offense Trillanes was charged with was already "abolished, obliterated and placed in oblivion" in view of the case dismissal due to the amnesty grant.

"Hence, the denial of the prosecution's very urgent ex-parte omnibus motion dated 04 September 2018 for lack of jurisdiction and/or lack of legal and factual bases, is clearly proper and in order."

The DOJ motion is set for hearing on Thursday, September 13. Makati RTC Branch 150, which handled and dismissed the rebellion case against Trillanes, will hear a similar government motion the following day.

Trillanes has asked the Supreme Court to block and nullify the amnesty revocation. It will be known on Tuesday, September 10, whether or not the justices would grant him immediate relief. —NB, GMA News