MANILA, Philippines — Solicitor General Jose Calida said on Wednesday that he would take Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to court if the lawmaker would not apologize for his accusation that the solicitor general “stole” his amnesty papers.
In a statement, Calida threatened Trillanes with a libel suit unless the lawmaker apologizes for calling him a thief.
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“The putschist Mr. Trillanes ranted to the media yesterday that I ‘stole’ his amnesty application document. In effect, Mr. Trillanes maliciously branded me as a thief, which I’m not,” the solicitor general said in a statement.
The embattled senator said in a press briefing on Wednesday: “I am calling for the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Department of National Defense... They know that I applied, they know that I have documents, why did they let Calida get them and lose them?”
READ: Trillanes claims Calida 'stole' his amnesty application documents
But the solicitor general retorted that there was nothing to steal when Lt. Col. Thea Joan Andrade, chief of the Discipline, Law and Order Division of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel “issued a Certification that there is no available copy of Trillanes’ application for amnesty in records?”
Calida also said that he has never entered the offices of the J1 or the AFP’s personnel division.
“So how could I ‘steal’ documents kept there?” the solicitor general added.
President Rodrigo Duterte himself said that Calida reviewed Trillanes’ amnesty papers.
Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana, in an earlier interview, said that the solicitor general sent a staff to “research” the amnesty documents of “Trillanes and his men.”
Trillanes moved for the probe into Calida's alleged impropriety in owning stocks of a security agency that landed multi-million contracts with government agencies. Calida sought the Supreme Court to block the probe.
Trillanes: No apology for Calida
Trillanes, however, refused to apologize to Calida.
In a report by News5, Trillanes was quoted as saying: “He is in no position to demand anything. Yung buong Pilipinas alam ang katotohanan. Kung mag-file sya, gawin nya, trip nya yan (He is in no position to demand anything. The whole Philippines knows the truth. If he wants to file, go ahead. Whatever floats your boat.).”
Trillanes was arrested on Tuesday, following the warrant issued by Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 that revived the rebellion case against him. On the same day, the senator had posted bail for the case and returned to the Senate afterward.
The senator might also face a warrant from Makati RTC Branch 148 over a non-bailable charge of coup d’etat, but Judge Andres Soriano said that he would not be issuing a resolution on the Department of Justice's motion on Thursday.