Palace declares: No more legal hurdle vs. revocation of Trillanes amnesty

Malacañang on Tuesday welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) not to issue a stay order on President Rodrigo Duterte’s proclamation that voided the amnesty given to opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

“There is no legal impediment now to implement Proclamation 572. He [Trillanes] had his day in court and he failed,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said at a press conference.

Roque made the pronouncement even if the SC has yet to decide on the merits of Trillanes' petition seeking to nullify Duterte's proclamation. The high court's resolution on Tuesday, which should not be mistaken for a final decision, only touched on whether or not to issue a restraining order.

As to the senator's main plea against the proclamation, the SC first asked the government to comment on Trillanes' petition before deciding on the matter.

Duterte has drawn criticism after he signed on August 31 Proclamation 572, which declared the amnesty given by the Aquino administration to Trillanes void from the start because the lawmaker had missed two requirements: an official application and an express admission of guilt for his involvement in the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 and Manila Peninsula Siege in 2007.

The proclamation also ordered the Department of Justice to resume pursuing coup d 'etat and rebellion charges against Trillanes, and instructed the military and police to collar the senator through lawful means.

Duterte would later say that he will await a court-issued warrant for Trillanes' arrest.

Trillanes has insisted that he had complied with the requirements to avail of amnesty.

Banking on Duterte's pronouncement that Trillanes will not be apprehended without an arrest warrant, the justices, in their regular session on Tuesday, found "no extreme and urgent necessity for the Court to issue an injunctive relief," SC acting spokesperson Maria Victoria Gleoresty Guerra said.

"In fact, the Department of Justice has caused the filing of pertinent motions before the Makati Regional Trial Courts and the Armed Forces of the Philippines has assured that court martial proceedings shall be held in abeyance pending resolution of the amnesty withdrawal," she added.

The SC also directed the government to comment within 10 days to Trillanes’ petition that assailed the constitutionality of Proclamation 572.

This means the SC will have to decide on the merits of the petition. —NB/MDM, GMA News