Guevarra: Review of Trillanes amnesty in pipeline 'for years'
MANILA, Philippines — Despite being granted eight years ago, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that the review of the amnesty given to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV had been in the pipeline for years.
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.
“But it just so happened that it was only recently that the proclamation was issued by the president,” he added.
In his Proclamation 572, dated August 31 and published in the ads section of the Manila Times on Tuesday, Duterte declared the amnesty granted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV by former President Benigno Aquino III null.
He claimed that the senator "did not comply with the minimum requirements to qualify under the Amnesty Proclamation."
Guevarra said that he cannot be certain who initiated the review, but government lawyers have been involved in it. “Probably both, [Office of the Solicitor General] lawyers and Malacañang lawyers have reviewed this matter,” he said.
“The Solgen [Jose Calida] would necessarily be consulted as well as the lawyers at the Office of the President,” Guevarra added.
Trillanes called for and is heading a legislative probe into the alleged conflict of interest in Calida’s stock ownership of Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc., a security agency with multimillion-peso contracts with several government agencies.
Declaration of nullity not a ‘fad’
Guevarra also denied that there is a “pattern” in the Duterte administration's voiding of contracts and appointments.
In May, the SC also voted to nullify Aquino’s appointment of Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice. The case stemmed from a quo warranto petition filed by Calida.
“It just so happened that all of these matters should be invalid right from the beginning,” Guevarra said.
“It’s not a fad, it just happened,” the Justice chief added.
Guevarra also stressed that an amnesty can only be granted with an official filling out, in person, of an application for amnesty and an admission of guilt.
He stressed that there is a need for specific, tacit admission of guilt to the crime he was charged with, that is coup d’etat.
RELATED: Duterte revokes Trillanes' amnesty for Magdalo mutinies
The Justice chief added that crimes have different elements.
He said that Trillanes should “show proof that he actually admitted guilt for such offenses.”
In a televised interview with Senate reporters earlier Tuesday, Trillanes said 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.
The amnesty signed by President Benigno Aquino III in 2010 was concurred with by the Congress.
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.
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