Duterte's pronouncement 'vindicates' Trillanes, says senator's lawyer

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said the Palace’s pronouncement that President Rodrigo Duterte will wait for a court-issued warrant “vindicates” their statement that the arrest order is illegal.

Speaking to ANC’s “The Bureau,” Reynaldo Robles, Trillanes’ lawyer said, that the Palace’ statement “vindicates the position of Trillanes that what they attempted to do during the last few days of trying to arrest him is illegal.”

“Now they are admitting that there was no warrant against him,” he added.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, in a press conference in Jordan, said Duterte told them that they would abide by the rule of law and wait for a local court to issue a warrant.

Duterte has ordered the apprehension of Trillanes through Proclamation 572. He said that the amnesty granted to the senator was “void from the beginning” and court proceedings against him should continue.

Roque quoted Duterte as saying: “The instruction is to abide by the rule of law. If no warrant is issued, we should wait for it.”

The palace spokesman added that Trillanes is only displaying his penchant for drama for insisting to stay at the Senate.

"That's only drama. No one will really arrest him without a warrant of arrest," Roque said, adding that he doesn't think that there is any possibility of the senator being arrested any time soon.

But the camp of Trillanes said that they would still have to “observe” what would happen after the Palace’s pronouncement.

“We will have to see because we don’t know...we will have to make sure that they will have honor and abide by [their] public statements,” Robles said.

He also pointed out that the Duterte administration has a record of “taking back its word.”

“We will have to act accordingly and decide. [We will] observe first,” the lawyer said.

State prosecutors have already sought for warrant against Trillanes before two courts in Makati, particularly in Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 and 150 where the senator had been charged with coup d’etat and rebellion, respectively.

Court rulings in 2011 said that the two cases were dismissed due to the amnesty granted to Trillanes.

The local courts have since closed and no warrant has been issued against the senator. — Kristine Joy Patag