Accidental martyrdom

Senator Ralph Recto likened Senator Antonio Trillanes’ two Senate wins (2007, 2013) to amnesties granted by the people. When he first won, after all, he was in jail for his role as spokesman of the Oakwood mutiny. The analogy calls to mind the infamous condonation doctrine – that judge made rule elevating an official’s reelection into a prophylactic against previous administrative misconduct. This 56-year doctrine was euthanized last 2015 in the case of Carpio-Morales v. Court of Appeals & Binay Jr. 

Amnesty, condonation. The meaning inherent in both terms is mercy and forgiveness. As applied in the context of a re-election, the same is also a nod to the primacy of the people’s will. 

Promise to forget. These terms have established connotations in the law. From Black’s:  Condonation has been defined as [a] victim’s express or implied forgiveness of an offense, [especially] by treating the offender as if there had been no offense.   In Barrioquinto v. Fernandez, the Court defines: Amnesty, on the other hand, is proclaimed by the Chief Executive with the concurrence of Congress. It is a public act of which the courts take judicial notice. It abolishes the offense itself, … that the person released by amnesty stands before the law precisely as though he had committed no offense.

Looks the same? Yes, but with critical distinctions. Condonation connotes forgiveness by the people. In Amnesty, it is the President and the Legislature that forgives. Condonation was used for administrative offenses. Amnesty applied to criminal offenses.

Condonation of criminal liability in the case of Sen. Trillanes? See Justice Salvador Esguerra’s concurrence in Oliveros v. Villaluz: “to hold that petitioner’s re-election erased his criminal liability would in effect transfer the determination of the criminal culpability of an erring official from the court to which it was lodged by law into the changing and transient whim and caprice of the electorate. This cannot be so, … his nefarious act having been committed against the very State whose laws he had sworn to faithfully obey and uphold. A contrary rule would erode the very system upon which our government is based, which is one of laws and not of men.”

What was he thinking!? This latest Malacanang caper, with its menu of constitutional infirmities: due process, equal protection, double jeopardy, bill of attainder, ex post facto, et. al. coupled with the undeniable mountain of physical evidence in media that Sen. Trillanes did apply for the amnesty, has legal luminaries all aligned against the President’s proclamation.

The Palace has announced that there will be no arrest, pending the issuance of a warrant by the Makati Court. They are expecting one, whether from the Tuesday application before Branch 148 with the Senator given five days to comment or from Branch 150 where another application for a warrant was filed just yesterday. The latter is the court where the Trillanes rebellion cases were  pending.

The Military contingent is on stand down. This belies its earlier claim that an arrest warrant was not needed, and that Sen. Trillanes was still subject to its own military jurisdiction. Hello to the inexplicable logic that a void amnesty resurrected ipso facto the Senator’s membership in the military. 

If Sen. Trillanes hasn’t left, he will be arrested the same way that then Senator Juan Ponce-Enrile was arrested in the Senate in the 1990 for his alleged participation in the coups against President Corazon C. Aquino.

Mileage magnet. Sen. Trillanes is far from the chivalrous figure. If impolitic politics is your cup of tea, or indecorous decorum, Senator Sonny could fit the bill of flawed hero. He has been a consistent voice of dissent that, despite the tendency to be boorish or comical, succeeds in essaying the role of fiscalizer. It was Trillanes’ efforts that fueled the Customs shabu shipment investigation, among others. We, thus, agree that the man has been providing society with an invaluable service.

It no longer unsettles when the President or his men decide to suddenly go off script and rule without the law. After the EJKs, De Lima, Sereno – we have come to expect the strong arm to be deployed again, shielded by nothing more than the evidentiary rule of “presumption of regularity.” In fact, under this administration, we have become inured to accepting a presumption of irregularity.

The true terror remains to be the possibility, which has become the probability to the betting man, that the Judiciary will willingly acquiesce to these untenable exploits. 

The world will neil. Just as we are proud of our Asian games medalists, let us salute yet another world class Filipino sportsman. Neil Dula Etheridge, the Fil-Brit star goalkeeper of our National Football Squad (the Azkals) is the first Filipino to play in the English Premier league (EPL). The gloved one debuted in goal last Aug. 11 for Cardiff City. He has been a monster against penalties. In the team’s first two fixtures, he saved goal from the spot kicks of the best players in the globe. BBC calls him the penalty hero.

The EPL is the highest profile football club league on the planet with the pick of the most competitive players from all continents. At their last game vs. giant Arsenal, Neil’s counterpart at the other end was Petr Cech, Czech Republic’s captain.  Arsenal’s midfield was led by former German team standout, Mezut Ozil.  Fans regularly see star players from Asia’s top footballing nations, Japan and Korea – countries that made all Asians proud at the last world cup in Russia. Neil is not just the first Filipino but also the first South East Asian in the league. 

Basketball is king in Phl. With Warrior superstar Steph Curry in town, Filipinos have been in a frenzy these past two days.  But, as even Jordan Clarkson recognizes, football is still the world’s no. 1 sport: “I know soccer is still a big, big sport but if soccer’s up there, I feel like basketball is just underneath.” Congratulations to Neil and family!