The Scandal of the Week is Duterte's revocation of Senator Triallnes' amnesty. Trillanes was involved in mutinies back in 2003 and again in 2007. Later he was granted amnesty by President Aquino. But now Duterte alleges that this was improperly done because Triallnes neither applied for it nor admitted guilt. Therefore his amnesty is void from the start. Here are some of the headlines.
Calida's involvement was confirmed to reporters by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Colonel Edgard Arevalo in a Camp Aguinaldo press briefing on Tuesday, September 4.
A reporter asked Arevalo: "What triggered that response from J1 (AFP's personnel division)? Who inquired and who requested?"
Without mincing words, Arevalo replied: "The Solicitor General did,"
The AFP's announcement backs the earlier allegation of Trillanes, who said Calida was behind the revocation of his amnesty.
News broke of Trillanes losing his amnesty just before the senator led the Senate panel probe into the controversial multimillion-peso contracts of Calida's security firm, Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc.
To recall, After leading the Oakwood mutiny in 2003 and the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007, the opposition senator was granted amnesty by President Benigno Aquino III in 2011.
How very convenient that Triallnes has lost his amnesty just as he was about to investigate Calida's business dealings.
"The acting AFP chief of staff, Lieutenant General Salvador Melchor Mison Jr. , has already instructed the re-convening of a general Court Martial that shall be hearing the case of Lieutenant Trillanes," Arevalo said.
"The fact that he was reverted to military custody and he regains his military personality, then kung anong magiging ruling ng Court Martial, that would apply to him," he added.
Arevalo said the revocation of the amnesty given to Trillanes would bring him back to his former status as an active military personnel.
Guevarra, who is also the designated officer-in-charge of the country while President Rodrigo Duterte is abroad, told reporters that the review of the amnesty “has been discussed a couple of years ago.” He said discussions on it could have started as early as 2013.
Now why would Triallnes' amnesty be under review as long ago as 2013 when Aquino was president and it was Aquino who granted him amnesty!? That makes no sense and neither does the following if indeed this has been in the pipeline for years:
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has in its possession only a 2010 document stating that the promulgation of a coup d’etat case against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was only suspended.
However, the accused are holding more recent documents.
Based on the Sept. 21, 2011 order issued by acting Presiding Judge Ma. Rita A. Bascos Sarabia, the case against Trillanes, Alejano, and James A. Layug has been dismissed under the amnesty given to them.
On the other hand, the order issued by Judge Elmo Alameda of Makati RTC Branch 150 dated Sept. 7, 2011 stated that Alejano, Trillanes, and several others had filed a motion to dismiss also on the ground of the amnesty given to them by then President Benigno Aquino III.
The DOJ, however, said that since these documents had been issued a long time ago, they have to dig through the case records.
So far, Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon has said, “as far as our records, there are among the accused, a decision rendered by an acting judge [that] approved the amnesty. But when I looked at the records, Trillanes was not included.”
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said they are still digging into their records.
“We have to check our records first if it was filed in 2003, so [that was] 15 years ago. We really have to look if it was suspended,” Guevarra told reporters.
Still digging through records? Even after Duterte gave an order revoking Triallnes' amnesty and ordering his arrest, and all this allegedly the culmination of years of being in the pipeline, the DOJ STILL has to dig through its records to verify these matters?
The Justice chief also said Trillanes can prove his claims in court as his department had already sought an arrest warrant and hold departure order against him.
To reiterate: Guevarra says this has been in the pipeline since maybe 2013, the DOJ says they still need to dig through records to verify everything even after Duterte has ordered his arrest and they have sought a warrant, and now Guevarra says the DOJ had nothing to do with this review. Well then how does he know this has been in the pipeline for years if his office is not involved!?
It's a little confusing but despite Duterte ordering his arrest there has been no official warrant of arrest issued yet and so Triallnes is pulling a Julian Assange and putting himself under house arrest in the Senate.
DEPARTMENT of National Defense (DND) spokesperson Arsenio Andolong clarified on Wednesday, September 5, that embattled Senator Antonio Trillanes IV may have truly submitted an application for amnesty but such document is just not available in their office.
(There is a misunderstanding. Some people think that he did not file an application. He did. We just could not find a copy. When their application for amnesty was processed in 2011, the DND created an ad hoc committee to evaluate their application and make a recommendation. The secretariat at the time was the J1 of the AFP).
(When the Office of the Solicitor General inquired at the J1, they discovered that they could not find a copy.)
How convenient is it that they cannot find his application? So it was Calida who instigated all this and it was not in the pipeline for years. If it had been in the pipeline for years, as early as 2013 maybe, would it be likely they had misplaced the document when it was still relatively new?
"After a long discussion, the President says he will abide by the rule of law. He will await the decision of the regional trial court if they will issue a warrant of arrest," said Roque.
Duterte made the decision in consultation with members of his Cabinet on Proclamation No. 572, which revoked Trillanes' amnesty granted in 2011 and ordered his immediate arrest.
The President met with Cabinet officials on Thursday night, September 6. The group included Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr, and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, among other officials who joined Duterte's latest foreign trip.
"He will allow the judicial process to proceed and he will wait for the issuance of appropriate warrant of arrest before Senator Trillanes is arrested," said Roque.
The Palace official said that being a former city prosecutor, Duterte "knows criminal procedure.
"He recognizes that only the courts can issue a warrant of arrest," Roque said.
Well isn't that nice of Duterte to abide by the rule of law?
There is an endless glut of news stories right now and they are basically all the same. Triallnes claims he is being persecuted by the Palace and will fight the revocation of his amnesty while the Palace denies any persecution and maintains that Trillanes' amnesty was never valid in the first place. What is more interesting than these headlines, I think, is that Triallnes is not alone. He is not the only criminal granted amnesty who is now part of the government.
Under Presidential Proclamation no. 75 issued by Aquino in 2010, soldiers involved in at least 2 failed mutinies against the Arroyo administration were granted amnesty. This took effect in 2011, when at least 79 mutineers applied for – and were given – amnesty, including Trillanes.
Some of them were previously granted amnesty under the Ramos administration for their involvement in failed coups against then president Corazon Aquino. But they joined subsequent mutinies again.
Office of Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Nicanor Faeldon
MMDA chairman Danilo Lim
Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano
Quezon City Representative Joseph Christopher 'Kit' Belmonte
Senator Gregorio Honasan II
How many mutinies do you have to engage in and be given amnesty for before you learn your lesson not to mutiny?
Aside from these men there are also a few others in the House and the Senate who are facing criminal trials for graft or have been accused of graft. Such men as
Senator Gregorio Honasan,
Representative Antonio Floirendo Jr,
Representative Pantaleon Alvarez,
Senator Win Gatchalian, and
Congressman Ruffy Blazon. Let's not forget about Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. As President he plundered the nation. He was subsequently sent to prison and then pardoned by Gloria Arroyo. Despite that not only did he see no conflict in running for office but the people thought he was worthy to be Mayor of Manila and duly elected him.
Amnesty may wipe a man's legal slate clean but it does not revise the past so that the events never happened. The moral implications remain. Indeed to be granted amnesty one must admit guilt. Trillanes and all these other men who were involved in sedition against the government all admitted their guilt. They are guilty as charged. They are traitors. The only reason they are not in prison right now is because they were granted amnesty and all legal repercussions were dismissed.
How then did they end up working for the government they sought to overthrow? Because the political parties they belong to decided to run them as candidates and the people voted for them. It is that simple and it is that corrupt. What kind of political party would see value in men who are admitted criminals? Who wants that whiff of corruption in their ranks? What kind of people would then vote for these men as if they deserved such a position? What kind of person would think it proper for them to run for office as an admitted criminal who actually committed crimes but is not facing any prison time solely because he was pardoned and not because he is actually innocent? Sadly moral turpitude is no big deal or hindrance in Philippine politics.
A second interesting thing about all this is Speaker Roque. This is a man who by all accounts has sold his soul to get his position. From being an admitted activist lawyer who helped bring the Philippines into the ICC to a man whose job it is to defend the President and all he does, Roque is not the idealistic young man of yesteryear. He is the cynical middle aged man of today. Here are comments he wrote about Triallnes back in 2010:
Whenever I feel tired of standing up against evil in government and have the occasional urge to retire into the stereotype of an upwardly mobile lawyer, I think of Sonny Trillanes and the many years that he spent behind bars fighting a regime and a system that is rotten and evil to the core. Whenever I feel that this nation deserves to continue to wallow in poverty because despite a change in government, corruption remains endemic; I ask myself: what have you actually done for this country? Certainly, nothing can compared to what Trillanes and his men did: like Ninoy, they were willing to die for this country. And unlike me and others who have only raised their voice against evil in government, Sonny gave up seven long years of his youth for this country.
https://web.archive.org/web/20110126171344/http://harryroque.com:80/2010/12/23/a-christmas-tribute-to-trillanes/
No one can expect Roque to give his own thoughts on the job as he is the Presidential Spokesperson. He must speak for the President. That is the nature of the job. But how Roque can remain in the position of being the spokesperson for a man whose policies are at odds with the ideals he has espoused in the past can only to be explained by political expediency. It is good for the time being because it will open doors in the future. Ideals and principles be damned.
Finally there is one last thing to consider and that is "Why." Why did Duterte revoke Trillanes' amnesty? From all appearances the amnesty is valid, lawful, and unbreakable. Or maybe not. Here is law professor Antonio Contreras with a most ridiculous conspiracy theory:
Does Duterte really think the courts will side with him? Does he really have the power to make this decision without the consent of Congress who had to ratify and affirm the amnesty? Maybe he knows his order is unlawful and will be overturned. Maybe he is doing all he can to waste Triallnes' time and mess with him. Professor Antonio Contreras thinks such might be the case.
That Contreras would consider such thing speaks volumes about Philippine society. It says, "As a lawyer I know exactly how people waste others' time with litigation." Never forget this observation from 1721:
"50. They are revengeful to an excessive degree—so much so that they are vile and cowardly; and the ministers have great trouble in reconciling them with their enemies; and although they do it through fear, it is never with the whole heart, for this passion has great influence over them. And since they need magnanimity and manliness to overcome it, and these virtues are foreign to them, hate generally forces its roots into them so deeply that it is impossible to eradicate it in a whole lifetime.
This is the reason why they are so inclined to litigation, and to going before the audiencias and courts with their quarrels, in which they willingly spend their possessions for the sole purpose of making others spend theirs and of causing them harm and trouble. For that they are even wont to pledge their sons and daughters."
http://www.philippinehistory.net/views/1720sanagustinb.htm
It's always funny to read the news and see how much the observations recorded in this 300 year old letter are vindicated time and time again.
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