Arrest warrant out vs. Trillanes over libel case filed by Junjun Binay

A Makati court has issued a warrant of arrest against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV after it had found probable cause in the libel case filed against him by dismissed Makati Mayor Junjun Binay.

In a phone interview with GMA News Online on Monday, lawyer Maricel Cairo, clerk of court of Makati Regional Trial Court 142, said “there is an order of probable cause” on the case filed against the senator.

Asked if a warrant of arrest has been issued, Cairo said: “That is already automatic.”

In a separate phone interview, lawyer Claro Certeza, Binay’s counsel, said he received an information from a source that an arrest warrant was issued against Trillanes in connection with the libel case.

However, he has yet to be given a copy of the court’s decision.

“Hindi daw ako entitled sa kopya kaya hindi ako binigyan,” Certeza told GMA News Online. “Maghihintay na lang ako ng kopya.”

Trillanes camp studying options

Trillanes, in a text message to reporters, said his counsel is now studying their options.

“Pinag-aaralan na ng abogado ko kung ano ang mga nararapat na hakbang,” he said.

“Pero kung ang layunin ng pamilya Binay sa kasong ito ay para tigilan ko sila sa aking pag-uusig, nagkakamali sila. Hindi ko hahayaan ang mga magnanakaw na mamuno ng ating bansa,” he added.

Later in the day, Trillanes' legal counsel, Reynaldo Robles, said the senator would submit himself before the court and face the libel raps filed by Binay.

“We have not received our official copy of the investigating prosecutor’s Resolution; but if it is true that she recommended the filing of an Information for libel in court, Sen. Trillanes will readily face the charges against him in court,” he said.

Libel case

The libel case filed by the dismissed mayor stemmed from the senator’s alleged "publicly and maliciously" accusing the mayor and his family of bribery and other crimes of irregularities "without factual basis.” 

The complaint cited in particular an April 7 interview with Trillanes "aired... over several radio and television programs" and quoted in a report on the Philippine Daily Inquirer, where the senator "publicly claimed" that Binay bribed the members of the 6th Division of the Court of Appeals "by paying them millions of pesos in exchange for favorable action" on the temporary restraining order against his suspension order.

"The damaging and ruinous claims spewed out by respondent Trillanes are mere concoctions and fabrications with no other purpose than to malign, discredit, ruin my reputation and besmirch my good name as well as that of my family," Binay said in his complaint affidavit. — RSJ, GMA News