SC denies Trillanes' TRO bid vs. amnesty revocation

The Supreme Court has refused to provide embattled Senator Antonio Trillanes IV immediate relief against the voiding of the amnesty granted to him in connection with his participation in attempts to overthrow the Arroyo administration.

The SC denied Trillanes' request for a temporary restraining order against President Rodrigo Duterte's Proclamation No. 572, which declared the senator's seven-year-old amnesty void from the start for his supposed failure to file an application and admit guilt.

Banking on Duterte's pronouncement that Trillanes will not be arrested without a warrant, the justices found "no extreme and urgent necessity for the Court to issue an injunctive relief," the SC's acting spokesperson, Maria Victoria Gleoresty Guerra, announced Tuesday.

"The Court takes judicial notice of the categorical pronouncement of President Duterte that Senator Trillanes will not be apprehended, detained or taken into custody unless a warrant of arrest has been issued by the trial court; and, thus, there is no extreme and urgent necessity for the Court to issue an injunctive relief considering that the respondents have acknowledged Senator Trillanes' right to due process," Guerra said.

"In fact, the DOJ has caused the filing of pertinent motions before the Makati Regional Trial Courts and the AFP has assured that court martial proceedings shall be held in abeyance pending resolution of the amnesty withdrawal," she added.

In its en banc session, the SC also decided to give the government 10 days to answer Trillanes' challenge to the constitutionality of the amnesty revocation, seen by critics as Duterte's latest attack against the opposition.

This means that while the SC is not immediately stopping the proclamation's implementation, it is not putting an end to hearing Trillanes' petition just yet.

Moreover, the SC said it was "appropriate" for the Makati courts — before which the government has asked to order Trillanes' arrest — to be "given leeway in exercising their concurrent jurisdiction" to decide the pleadings relating to the legality of the proclamation.

"Preliminarily, the issues of whether or not Senator Trillanes filed an application for amnesty and whether or not he admitted his guilt for the crimes subject thereof appear to be factual in nature," Guerra said in behalf of the SC.

"Only a trial court, and in certain cases, the Court of Appeals, are trier of facts," she addeed.

This development was a majority SC decision, but the specific voting was not disclosed. Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Marvic Leonen, Noel Tijam, and Alexander Gesmundo are on leave.

Trillanes, a staunch critic of the Duterte administration, had asked the SC to nullify Proclamation No. 572, whose issuance, his lawyer argued, was unconstitutional for lacking the concurrence of a majority of all members of Congress.

The issuance also violated the senator's rights to due process, equal protection, against double jeopardy, and the power of the courts to order arrests, his petition for certiorari said.

Trillanes also accused Duterte and his senior officers of grave abuse of discretion for trying to implement the proclamation contrary to jurisprudence that says amnesty extinguishes offenses, and for attempting to have him arrested on the basis of a proclamation by the President, who he said is unauthorized to order arrests.

Named respondents in the petition were Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Carlito Galvez, Jr. and Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde.

In compliance with the presidential proclamation, the Department of Justice has moved for Trillanes' arrest before the two Makati courts that handled the criminal cases against him in connection with the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and the 2007 Manila Peninsula Siege.

The Makati Regional Trial Court's Branches 148 and 150, which dismissed the coup d'etat and rebellion cases against the former Navy officer due to the amnesty grant, will hear the DOJ's motions on Thursday and Friday, respectively. —KBK, GMA News