CA affirms Makati court decision denying arrest warrant for Trillanes

The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the decision of a Makati City court denying the government's bid to put former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV behind bars over a previously dismissed coup d'etat case.

In a decision dated May 31, the CA Special 11th Division dismissed the petition filed by the government that sought to overturn the ruling of Judge Andres Soriano of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 in October 2018.

Soriano ruled against the Department of Justice's request for an arrest warrant for Trillanes over the former Navy officer's involvement in the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 as he looked into the legal basis of President Rodrigo Duterte's Proclamation 572 that nullified the senator's amnesty.

According to the CA, the 1987 Constitution does not prohibit the President from revoking the grant of an amnesty if he finds that the recipient failed to comply with the conditions.

In Trillanes' case, the CA gave weight to the trial court's findings that he filed his application for amnesty in January 2011 pursuant to then-President Benigno Aquino III's Proclamation 75 and admitted his guilt for the offenses, contrary to the government's claims.

The appellate court also ruled as valid the trial court's decision to dismiss the coup d' etat charges in September 2011 as a result of the amnesty.

"Therefore, it cannot be said that the grant of amnesty in favor of private respondent was validly revoked. As a result, the charges against private respondent in connection with the offenses 'forgotten' or forgiven by the amnesty must be necessarily dropped," the decision stated.

"In sum, this Court finds no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the public respondent in rendering the assailed orders in this case which would warrant the reversal or the modification thereof."

Associate Justice Edwin Sorongon wrote the decision, which was concurred in by Justices Perpetua Susana Atal-Paño and Raymond Reynold Lauigan.

Last March, the CA Sixth Division ruled in favor of Trillanes by reversing the decision of another Makati judge reinstating his rebellion case over the 2007 Manila Peninsula Siege.

The CA said in the decision that Judge Elmo Alameda of the Makati RTC Branch 150 committed grave abuse of discretion when he refused to allow Trillanes to present testimonial evidence to prove that he applied and was granted amnesty in 2011. — RSJ, GMA News