Duterte has no power to cancel Trillanes' amnesty, legal experts say

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV answers questions from media following President Rodrigo Duterte's nullification of his amnesty. The senator likens what is happening to a "de facto Martial Law environment."
The STAR/Mong Pintolo

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has no power to revoke the amnesty granted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV eight years ago, two legal experts said on Tuesday.

Antonio La Viña, former dean of the Ateneo School of Government, said the amnesty granted by former President Benigno Aquino III to Trillanes and other soldiers was already final and cannot be overturned.

"What is important here is (former Defense) Secretary (Voltaire) Gazmin, the whole board and President Aquino did their job and gave that amnesty and granted that amnesty. You do not question that," La Viña said in an interview with ANC.

For his part, Aquino's former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said if Duterte wants to revoke Trillanes' amnesty, he should go to court.

"It is the burden of the president to find a way to nullify that contract so that he cannot unilaterally nullify that contract. He has to go to court first," he said also on ANC.

Hilbay said the amnesty is like a "contract," which in Trillanes' case "has already been issued and accepted."

Duterte signed Proclamation No. 572 that ordered the voiding of Trillanes' amnesty "effective immediately," and authorizing the military and the Department of Justice to file the necessary charges against the senator over his participation on the mutiny in Oakwood Hotel in 2003 and in the Peninsula Manila in 2007. 

The police were also ordered to arrest Trillanes.

Trillanes, a vocal critic of the Duterte administration, is currently in custody of Senate President Vicente Sotto III. He said he would question the legality of Duterte's order.

While the DOJ contended that Trillanes did not file for amnesty application, and therefore was not qualified for it, news reports and videos have appeared on social media showing him filing the application.

The DOJ also said the president has the power to revoke amnesty any time, a position La Viña disagree with.

"Will future presidents now (be able to do the same) if they do not like the political leanings of a person then find some defect in the process?" he asked.

"This is way beyond Senator Trillanes and way beyond the Duterte administration," he added.

For rebel groups negotiating peace with the government, La Viña said Trillanes' case sends a chilling message that the state can easily run after you should you go against it.

Hilbay agreed.

"That's clear, they are trying to look at all possible technicalities to justify a ground for nullification...," he said.

Opposition groups have said that the amnesty revocation was a way by the administration to silence its critics, pointing to the jailing of Sen. Leila de Lima as well as the ouster of former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as precedents.

De Lima and Sereno were both appointed by Aquino during his term.

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