Calida welcomes denial of Trillanes bid for TRO

Solicitor General Jose Calida on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court's (SC) denial of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV's bid to secure a temporary restraining order against the presidential order that nullified his amnesty.

"The OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) is elated that no less than the Supreme Court has acknowledged that Proclamation No. 572 afforded Mr. Trillanes due process," Calida said in a statement.

Presidential Proclamation No. 572 contains a directive for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police to "employ all lawful means" to arrest and jail Trillanes so he could be tried for cases — which have already been dismissed — over the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and the 2007 Manila Peninsula Siege.

However, the SC found "no extreme and urgent necessity" for it to grant the opposition senator's request for injunctive relief, as it took judicial notice of President Rodrigo Duterte's "categorical pronouncement" that Trillanes "will not be apprehended, detained or taken into custody" without a court-issued arrest warrant.

"Clearly, the baseless and inflammatory statements of Mr. Trillanes are mere delusions of a grandiose man," Calida said.

Calida is linked to the government's checking of Trillanes' amnesty records. But citing lawyer-client privileged communication, he has refused to explicitly confirm or explain his involvement in the controversial amnesty revocation, although several officials, including Duterte himself, have all pointed to him.

"The OSG welcomes the development that no temporary restraining order was issued and we nurture the hope that Mr. Trillanes, no matter how remote the possibility, will finally man up and face the charges against him for the unlawful actions he committed against the Filipino people," Calida said.

Despite the denial of Trillanes' request for a temporary restraining order, his petition for certiorari has not been discarded yet. The SC has asked the government to comment on his pleading, which questions the constitutionality of the amnesty nullification, so it can rule on the merits of the senator's plea.

Calida, the government's chief lawyer, will answer the petition on behalf of the respondents: Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr, and PNP Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has moved for Trillanes' arrest before the two Makati courts that previously handled the coup d'etat and rebellion cases against him. The judges of the Makati Regional Trial Court's Branches 148 and 150 will hear the DOJ motions on Thursday and Friday, respectively. — MDM, GMA News