MANILA, Philippines — Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Danilo Lim or Bureau of Corrections Director Nicanor Faeldon may testify against their fellow ex-mutineer, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, in his rebellion case that a Makati City court revived last year.
At the resumption of Trillanes’ trial yesterday, government prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DOJ) told the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 that they would present either Lim or Faeldon as their witness during the next hearing on Oct. 7.
Prosecutors, however, saw no need to summon the two through subpoena.
“We would bring them here (to the court),” Assistant State Prosecutor Evee Eunice de Keyser told reporters after the hearing.
Lim and Faeldon were both co-accused in the rebellion raps against Trillanes and several rogue Magdalo soldiers over the siege of the Manila Peninsula Hotel in November 2007, where they called for the ouster of then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Trillanes, Lim, Faeldon and other soldiers who joined the Manila Peninsula siege and the Oakwood mutiny in July 2003 were granted amnesty by former president Benigno Aquino III in 2011.
However, President Duterte issued Proclamation 572 last year which invalidated Trillanes’ amnesty, as the latter allegedly did not file any application for it and did not admit guilt.
The same proclamation, however, seemed to have not covered Lim, Faeldon and the other soldiers.
The proclamation prompted the DOJ to ask two Makati City courts to reopen the coup d’etat and rebellion cases against Trillanes and arrest him.
Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda ruled last year that Trillanes did not apply for amnesty nor did he recant any statements that compromised his admission of guilt and ordered him arrested, thereby reopening the long-dismissed case.
On the other hand, Branch 148, handling the senator’s coup d’etat case, denied the same DOJ request and invoked the “doctrine of immutability” on the dismissed case.
Trillanes’ camp could still object to the presentation of Lim or Faeldon as prosecution witnesses following the court’s nod, De Keyser added.
Reynaldo Robles, Trillanes’ lawyer, cautioned Lim and Faeldon on testifying, saying statements they would make before the court could also be used against them, being former mutineers also.
“In the future, their cases might be revived and be used against them,” he told reporters, saying the inclusion of the two came as a surprise.
Their inclusion as witnesses should have good grounds before the judge would allow them to testify, said Robles, explaining that the two were not among the list of witnesses that the DOJ initially presented.
Trillanes, Lim and other Magdalo soldiers, walked out on Nov. 29, 2007, of their trial proceedings at the Makati Regional Trial Court for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and proceeded to the Manila Peninsula Hotel.
Trillanes surrendered after seven hours. He was subsequently charged with rebellion and imprisoned.