Court to hear Trillanes’ motion on arrest warrant

MANILA, Philippines — A Makati City regional trial court (RTC) handling the rebellion case of opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is set to hear today the motion that the lawmaker filed, seeking to set aside the arrest warrant issued against him on Sept. 25. 

The office of RTC Branch 150 Presiding Judge Elmo Alameda said a hearing will be held at 9 a.m. today, after Trillanes’ lawyer Reynaldo Robles filed a motion on Oct. 1. 

In a 19-page motion, Robles said they are asking Alameda to set aside his previous decision granting the motion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue arrest warrant and hold departure order against the senator.  

Robles said DOJ’s motion must be denied “for lack of jurisdiction and/or lack of merit, pursuant to prevailing laws and/or jurisprudence” as the rebellion case was already dismissed on Sept. 7, 2011.

He emphasized that the case was final and executory for more than seven years when it was dismissed in September 2011 through the amnesty granted to Trillanes by then president Benigno Aquino III. 

Trillanes’ case is being revived by the DOJ following President Duterte’s issuance of Proclamation No. 572 in August this year that voided his amnesty granted by Aquino through Proclamation No. 75.  

“The assailed ruling of the honorable court is tantamount to a total and complete surrender of the independence of the judiciary and a tragic capitulation to the President of the judicial power lodged upon the courts by the Constitution,” Robles said. 

He noted that the President seemed to have been given the power to review and pass upon the validity of court decisions that have attained finality, a power which even the Supreme Court does not possess. 

Trillanes was arrested on Sept. 25 after Alameda found “factual and legal basis” in Duterte’s proclamation, but was freed a few hours after he surrendered before the Makati City police and after posting P200,000 bail for his temporary liberty. 

Alameda set the presentation of evidence of the prosecution at 2 p.m. on Nov. 21.