Trillanes sued for 'inciting to sedition' for calling Duterte names

Labor Undersecretary Jing Paras (third from left) along with lawyers Nasser Marohomsalic, Alvaro Lazaro and Eligio Mallari file a sedition case against Senator Antonio Trillanes. Danny Pata

Labor Undersecretary Jacinto “Jing” Paras has filed inciting to sedition charges vs. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV before the Pasay City fiscal's office on Friday.

Paras filed the charges amid Trillanes's ongoing bid to stop the implementation of President Rodrigo Duterte's Proclamation 572 which voids the amnesty granted to Trillanes eight years ago by then President Benigno Aquino III with concurrence of Congress on the grounds that he did not apply for amnesty and he did not admit to his crimes as a former mutineer.

Trillanes has sought the courts' intervention, citing, among others, Department of Defense records which show that he applied for amnesty, he admitted to violation of all laws and that the Defense department found his application for amnesty in order.

“In his interviews, he mentioned a lot of things about the President. He called the President insane, incompetent, mahina ang kukote, corrupt, kung anu-anong adjectives. That is addressing the people, encouraging the people to go against the President and overthrow this government,” Paras told GMA News Online in a phone interview.

Under the Revised Penal Code, inciting to sedition is committed when a person incite others to the accomplishment of any of the acts which constitute sedition, by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, cartoons, banners, or other representations tending to the same end, or upon any person or persons who would utter seditious words or speeches, write, publish, or circulate scurrilous libels against the Government of the Philippines, or any of the duly constituted authorities thereof.

Duterte, interestingly, challenged the military to oust him and join Trillanes if the soldiers don't find him competent anymore to be President.

“If the Armed Forces think that I am not competent, that I am not qualified to be sitting here as President, I have discussed this matter with them in a command conference. Bahala kayo. [Nasa] inyo [yan]. [Sabihin niyo] kasama ko si Trillanes, mag-simpatya kayo [sa kanya]? Eh kung ganoon, kung ganun kayong klase ‘di doon kayo. Doon kayo. If you want another President, fine,” Duterte had said.

Paras, however, did not view the President's statements as a dare to the military to overthrow the Chief Executive.

“What he said was after the fact [when Trillanes already made a lot of accusations against him]. It was a symbolic response to the braggadocio of Trillanes, na marami raw sumusuporta sa kanya,” Paras said.

“Ang sinasabi lang ng Presidente, kung talagang may suporta kay Trillanes, eh 'di tignan natin kung may sasama nga sa kanya,” Paras added.

While Proclamation 572 orders Trillanes' immediate arrest, the Senator remains a free man since a competent court is yet to issue a warrant of arrest against him.

In May, Paras filed a complaint accusing Trillanes of grave threats for allegedly telling him, "Yayariin kita," when they crossed paths in the Senate late last month.

Last November, Paras was also among several lawyers affiliated with the VACC who filed a sedition complaint against Trillanes before the Pasay City Prosecutor's Office over the senator's supposed remark to soldiers to shoot Duterte with their sub-machine guns. —JST, GMA News