Prosecutor sets hearing on inciting to sedition complaint vs. Trillanes

A Pasay City prosecutor has summoned Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and his accusers to an investigation on the second inciting to sedition complaint against the lawmaker.

Presidential Anti-Corruption Commissioner Manuelito Luna, one of the complainants, said Prosecutor Reynaldo Ticyado will hold a preliminary investigation and clarificatory hearing on Thursday, October 18, at 1:30 p.m.

The complaint is based on the outspoken Duterte critic's "incendiary statements" against President Rodrigo Duterte following the chief executive's revocation of his amnesty, Luna said Tuesday.

In September, Labor Undersecretary Jacinto Paras, another complainant, said Trillanes had called the President "insane, incompetent, mahina ang kukote, corrupt," among others.

A separate case for inciting to sedition was filed against the staunch Duterte critic before the Pasay City Metropolitan Trial Court in March, where he stands accused of encouraging the military to shoot Duterte, their commander-in-chief.

According to the Revised Penal Code, the offense is committed when a person, without taking direct part in sedition, incites others to accomplish acts that 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 shall utter seditious words or speeches, write, publish, or circulate scurrilous libels against the Republic of the Philippines or any of the duly constituted authorities thereof," among others.

Trillanes has sought the Supreme Court's intervention in the aftermath of the voiding of his amnesty, which was based on his alleged failure to file an application and admit guilt for his involvement in the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and the 2007 Manila Peninsula Siege.

He has already been ordered arrested by a Makati court for a previously dismissed rebellion case but was allowed to post bail. Another court has yet to decide whether or not to revive a similarly junked case for coup d'etat, a non-bailable offense if the evidence of guilt is strong. — RSJ, GMA News