CA justices for Trillanes case named
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2019 17:36:46 +0000
The Court of Appeals (CA) 7th Division has been designated to handle the petition filed by the by the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) against Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th, which seeks to revoke his amnesty and called for his arrest without bail for coup d’etat charges against the government.
CA Justice Edwin Sorongon will be the ponente of the case, joined by the chairman of the Division under the watch of Justices Sesinando Villon and Germano Legaspi.
The petition initially went to the CA 16th Division, but Justice Jane Lantion inhibited herself from the case due to personal reasons.
In its Petition for Certiorari dated Jan. 17, 2019 and signed by Solicitor General Jose Calida, the OSG asked the appeals court to nullify several issuances of Judge Andres Soriano of the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148.
Soriano junked the DoJ’s motion seeking Trillanes’ arrest, but declared the revocation of Trillanes’ amnesty by President Rodrigo Duterte as valid.
The OSG also asked the CA to remand the case against Trillanes to the trial court for continuation of proceedings.
More than 300 fully armed junior officers and enlisted men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines occupied the Oakwood Hotel in Makati City on July 27, 2003, purportedly to air their grievances against the government.
On Nov. 24, 2010, President Benigno Aquino 3rd signed Proclamation 75 granting amnesty to active and former personnel of the armed forces and Philippine National Police, as well as their supporters who might have committed crimes punishable under the Revised Penal Code, the Articles of War, and other laws in connection with the Oakwood mutiny, the Marines stand-off, and the Manila Peninsula incident.
President Duterte, however, signed Proclamation 572 on Aug. 31, 2018 declaring void the amnesty granted to Trillanes under Proclamation 75, on the ground that he failed to comply with the necessary requirements for its grant, including the filing of his application and admission of guilt.
Trillanes sought relief from the Supreme Court; challenging the proclamation, but the high court junked his plea for a temporary restraining order and remanded the factual issues of the cases to the trial courts.
Judge Elmo Alameda of Makati RTC Branch 150 granted the motions of the DoJ and ordered the arrest of Trillanes in connection with the rebellion case stemming from the Manila Peninsula siege.
In contrast, Soriano junked Trillanes’ arrest, but affirmed the validity of Proclamation 572.
The DoJ appealed Soriano’s decision in October 2018, but lost anew, prompting the OSG to seek redress before the CA.
In its petition, the OSG cited the ruling of the high court saying that only a trial court, and in certain cases, the appeals tribunal, are trier of facts.
“The respondent judge (Soriano) acted arbitrarily in holding that the factual basis for Proclamation 572 does not exist notwithstanding his ruling that it is valid,” the petition said.
The respondent judge committed grave abuse of discretion, among others, “amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in admitting and giving credence to the Trillanes’ secondary evidence.” This included the photo of his alleged acceptance of the amnesty.
But the OSG said, “without the original copy of the private respondent’s Official Amnesty Application Form, it cannot be conclusively said that [he] expressely admitted that he committed the crimes of rebellion and coup d’etat for his active involvement and participation in Oakwood mutiny and Manila Peninsula Siege.”
The petition also claimed that “no evidence was also adduced to show that diligent efforts had been exerted to locate the original copy of the purportedly existing form.”
The OSG also argued that the state was denied due process of law, when the RTC issued the order in 2011 dismissing the coup d’etat case against Trillanes.
It pointed out that the amnesty was constitutionally infirm, not only because of the unlawful delegation of then Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, but also because the concurrence of Congress was made before the amnesty was granted.
Once arrested, Trillanes will stay in prison without bail as the coup charge is a non-bailable.
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