DND summons officer who processed Trillanes amnesty

The Department of National Defense (DND) on Friday summoned the officials involved in the processing of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV's application for amnesty back in 2011.

According to Chino Gaston's report on "24 Oras", they included former DND Ad Hoc Committee Secretariat Colonel Josefa Berbigal.

Berbigal was the one who administered the oath to Trillanes after he applied for amnesty in 2011.

Her signature was also stamped on the document that was presented by the senator to prove that he had applied for amnesty.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Colonel Edgardo Arevalo said that the AFP was convening a court martial to try Trillanes.

"The AFP is on the process of constituting the General Court Martial in compliance with the mandated task under Presdiential Proclamation 572," AFP said in a statement.

Signed by Duterte on August 31, 2018, Proclamation No. 572 states that the amnesty extended to Trillanes, a vocal critic of the administration, was void from the start because the lawmaker did not comply with the "minimum requirements to qualify under the amnesty proclamation."

Duterte also directed the Department of Justice and Court Martial of the AFP to pursue all criminal and administrative cases filed against Trillanes in connection with the Oakwood and Manila Peninsula incidents.

The senator is now placed under the custody of Senate President Vicente Sotto III. His legal counsel will file the necessary petition before the Supreme Court to challenge Duterte's proclamation. —Jessica Bartolome/NB, GMA News