Trillanes camp: No indication senator did not apply for amnesty on AFP certificate

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV asked the Makati court to deny the Department of Justice’s motion for the issuance of alias warrant and hold departure order due to lack of jurisdiction and/or lack of merit.

In their 36-page supplemental comment filed before Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148, Trillanes’ camp insisted that the case had already become final and executory nearly seven years ago.

A 2011 court order dated Sept. 21, 2011, issued by Acting Presiding Judge Ma. Rita Bascos Sarabia, dismissed the coup d’etat case against Trillanes pursuant to the amnesty.

READ: A duel of documents: DOJ, Trillanes cite different rulings

Trillanes’ supplemental comment was filed on Monday, September 24, but was released to media only on Tuesday.

Certificate does not say Trillanes did not apply

The senator’s camp stressed before the court that the Armed Forces of the Philippines certification presented by the prosecution merely stated that there are no records of the senator’s application for amnesty were available, but it did not explicitly say that Trillanes did not apply for amnesty.

“As can be seen from the text of the subject certification, nowhere but nowhere in the Certification of Lt. Col. Thea Joan Andrade did she state, claim and/or assert that [Trillanes] did not file his application for amnesty,” the comment read.

This was one of the basis cited in the text of President Rodrigo Duterte's Proclamation 572 that declared the amnesty granted to Trillanes as void from the beginning.

Calida hand in amnesty records

The senator also pointed out the curious timing of the proclamation, which was released on the same day Trillanes was to conduct a probe into Calida’s supposed impropriety in owning a security agency with multi-million contracts with government agencies.

Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana was quoted in a report as saying that may have called him on August 16. The certification presented by the prosecution, was signed by Andrada on August 30.

“Calida, it bears noting, was about to undergo on September 4, 2018, a Senate investigation before the Committee chaired by herein formed Accused Trillanes,” the comment read.

“Within the said long period [Calida's call to issuance of certificate], Calida and his agents could very well have magically done everything to make the amnesty application disappear from the records,” the senator's camp added.

READ: DND should account for 'missing' amnesty form, Trillanes lawyer says

Only one copy of application given, submitted

The senator’s camp also said that they have conferred with other former mutineers who availed of the amnesty and learned that they also had no reply.

They recalled that upon the publication of Proclamation 572, Trillanes looked for a copy of his amnesty application.

“However, after earnest efforts in this regard proved fruitless, [Trillanes] realized, after discussion with his fellow amnesty grantees, that none of them in fact ever retained any copy of their respective amnesty applications,” the comment read.

The senator’s camp stressed that he and his fellow Magdalo Group members were given only one copy each of the official amnesty form which was then filled out and submitted to DND Ad Hoc Amnesty Committee.

READ: Trillanes files affidavit of officer who received his amnesty application

Trillanes has also attached a copy of the affidavit of Col. Josefa Berbigal where she attested that: “Among the applications for amnesty which our committee process was that of [Trillanes], which was filed on Jan. 5, 2011.”

In her affidavit, Berbigal stated that she “personally received” Trillanes’ application and she also asked the senator to “read the pre-printed statement contained therein making a general admission of his guilt for his alleged offenses before asking him to take his oath for the said amnesty application.”

During the motion hearing last September 13, Judge Elmo Alameda also allowed the prosecution to file their reply on the supplemental comment.

After the DOJ has filed their pleading, the motion will be deemed submitted for resolution. — Kristine Joy Patag