De Lima, Liberal Party solons slam filing of charges vs Trillanes

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila de Lima on Friday slammed the prosecutor's "outlandish" finding of probable cause to indict Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on sedition, over a privilege speech hitting President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a statement, De Lima said: "Prosecutor Lim’s findings are of course ludicrous. She has made petition signing for accountability a crime."

On Thursday, Pasay City Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Joahna Gabatino-Lim recommended the filing of inciting sedition charges against Trillanes over what he said in his speech at the Senate on Oct. 3, 2017.

De Lima said: "In their bid for promotions, and in light of the obvious breakdown of the system of meritocracy in government service today, public prosecutors seem to be in a race of who can first file, or dismiss, as the case may be, the case that pleases Malacañang the most."

In his speech quoted in the resolution, Trillanes, one of the most vocal critics of Duterte, said the president noted that if P40 million at the very least was found in his accounts, he could be shot and killed by the soldiers.

“So here’s the answer now. If the soldiers could see this, they will use the M60 machine gun on you. These are many. The magazines will be emptied if you’re looking for P40 million, Mr. Duterte,” the resolution further quoted Trillanes as saying.

But De Lima argued Trillanes' indictment was merely "another attempt to silence administration critics."

"And in a regime where meritocracy and competence has no more value, they are only too eagerly assisted by many public servants who are only too willing to get ahead the easy way, that is, by accomplishing what is most endearing to Malacañang, no matter how outrageously unjust," she added.

The charge emanated from a complaint filed by several lawyers who are known allies of President Rodrigo Duterte. Some of the complainants, such as former Rep. Jacinto "Jing" Paras is now a labor undersecretary.

READ: Trillanes indicted for sedition

Liberal Party solons hit DOJ, NPS

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, for his part, pointed out that Trillanes cannot be charged over something that he said in a privilege speech.

"It violates the absolute parliamentary immunity for privilege speeches as established in Article IV, Section 5 of the Constitution," Drilon said.

In the resolution, Lim argued that Trillanes can be charged as his speech was "not made in accordance with a legislative function."

Sen. Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV, meanwhile, branded the filing of charges against Trillanes as yet another "bullying" tactic against administration critics.

Aquino said that what is more baffling is the "continued protection and freedom given by DOJ to drug lords and criminal masterminds."

Sen. Francis Pangilinan hit the DOJ for having "double standards" on filing cases against government's "known allies" and their critics.

"Kerwin already confessed to the Senate that he is part of the illegal drug trade in the country while Lim was identified by Duterte several times as part of the trade, but they were still absolved," Pangilinan added.

The case is currently under appeal at the National Prosecution Service (NPS). It was also repeatedly mentioned by the state prosecutors that the police did not include Espinosa's confession in the complaint.

The prosecutors and Aguirre reiterated that they cannot rule on something that was not cited in the complaint, as it is not the panel's duty to build the case against respondents.