Trillanes presents affidavits of amnesty committee secretariat, chairperson to prove he complied with requirements

The camp of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has submitted before the two branches of Makati regional trial courts evidence proving that the senator indeed applied for amnesty and complied with its requirements.

At a press conference on Monday, Trillanes said they presented the affidavits of Colonel Josefa Berbigal, current commissioned officer of the Judge Advocate General's Office, and Honorio Azcueta.

Berbigal, in her two-page affidavit, said she was appointed as head of the secretariat of the Department of National Defense Ad Hoc Amnesty Committee which processed the applications for amnesty filed pursuant to Proclamation 75 issued by then-President Benigno Aquino III.

Berbigal said among the applications for amnesty which the committee processed was that of Trillanes.

"I know that Senator Trillanes filed his amnesty application because I was the one who personally received Sen. Trillanes' amnesty application [on] January, 5, 2011," she said.

She said that before accepting the application, she asked Trillanes to read the pre-printed statement contained making general admission of his guilt for his alleged offenses before asking him to take his oath for the amnesty application.

She said that after studying the application, the committee found it "to be in order, complete, and in compliance with all the requirements of Proclamation 75."

Azcueta was DND undersecretary from July 2010 to 2016 and chairman of the Ad Hoc Amnesty Committee.

"The amnesty applications which were recommended for approval by the committee, including that of Trillanes, underwent the necessary and the applicable procedures set in Proclamation 75 and the DND circular," he said.

Trillanes said it was the court that required Berbigal and Azcueta to give their affidavits upon the request of his camp.

Earlier this month, President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation 572 revoking the amnesty awarded to Trillanes by Aquino in November 2010.

The proclamation states that the amnesty granted to the senator was ‘void ab initio’ or invalid from the beginning as the former Navy officer allegedly failed to apply for the amnesty and admit his guilt. — RSJ, GMA News