MANILA, Philippines (11:42 a.m.) — President Rodrigo Duterte has declared the amnesty granted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV in January 2011 as void.
In his Proclamation 572, Duterte claimed that the senator "did not comply with the minimum requirements to qualify under the Amnesty Proclamation."
The president has ordered the Department of Justice and court martial of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to pursue all criminal and administrative cases filed against Trillanes in connection with the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 and the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007.
Duterte proclamation revoking amnesty granted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV for participation in mutinies against the Arroyo administration | @kristinepatag pic.twitter.com/94PEOsBxTI
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) September 4, 2018
According to the proclamation, Trillanes did not apply for amnesty and "never expressed his guilt for the crimes that were committed" during those mutinies.
A January 6, 2011 report by The STAR notes, however, "Trillanes and 18 other Magdalo officers submitted their application forms to the Department of National Defense Ad Hoc Amnesty Committee at about 2 p.m. in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City."
"It’s (coup) a technical charge that has elements that needs to be proven… Let me be clear, we admit guilt as far as rising up against the most corrupt president this country ever had," the former Navy officer told reporters then.
He said in the same report, as in other reports on his amnesty application in 2011 that "[w]e are man enough to admit that we have broken rules in the pursuit of a moral cause and we faced it like men."
Trillanes, who was elected senator while in detention, also said: "We were imprisoned and the others were separated from the service so it's very easy for us to agree to that (admission of guilt)."
According to an ABS-CBN News report on the application for amnesty, "Trillanes signed a portion acknowledging his involvement in uprisings that entail 'a violation of the 1987 Constitution, criminal laws, and the Articles of War' and recanting his statements in the past that are contrary 'to this express admission of involvement/participation and guilt.'"
The military and police were also directed to arrest Trillanes "so that he can be recommended to the detention facility where he had been incarcerated for him to stand trial for the crimes he is charged with."
Proclamation 572 was published as an advertisement in the September 4 issue of the Manila Times.
Trillanes: No amnesty granted if I did not apply for it
In a televised interview with Senate reporters, Trillanes called the proclamation "bogus", saying the best proof that he applied for amnesty is that he was granted it.
"Imagine, bakit ako bibigyan ako ng amnesty kung hindi ako nag-apply (why would they give me that if I did not ask apply for it? That is a very, very clear requirement kasi yun yung tatanggapin mo yung conditions ng nag-grant ng amnesty (you have to accept the conditions of the one granting amnetsy)," he said.
He added that he does not have a copy of his application form. "I have the amnesty certificate, that's what matters," he said in Filipino.
He added, however, that if security personnel come to arrest him, he will not resist arrest nor try to escape. He said he will not resist since soldiers sent to arrest him are only doing their jobs.
He said he will exhaust all legal remedies and will continue working at the Senate until the arrest is effected.
"I will not dignify [this foolishness]. They know it, I know it... this has no basis. They just made this up ," he also said.
Aquino's amnesty proclamation
President Benigno Aquino III granted the amnesty through a proclamation in 2010 that Congress concurred in.
The amnesty proclamation covered active and former police and military personnel and "[extinguished] any criminal liability for acts committed in connection, incident or related to the July 27, 2003 Oakwood Mutiny, the February 2006 Marines Stand-Off and the November 29, 2007 Peninsula Manila Hotel Incident without prejudice to the grantee’s civil liability for injuries or damages caused to private persons."
Trillanes, a lieutenant, senior grade, at the time of the Oakwood Mutiny, applied for amnesty in 2011. — Patricia Lourdes Viray
This is a developing story.