Soldiers should only follow legal orders — Biazon
MANILA, Philippines — Soldiers who went to the Senate after President Rodrigo Duterte issued a proclamation nullifying the amnesty granted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV might have been in trouble if the president did not withdraw his order, former Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said.
Biazon, also a former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff, said he was glad Duterte withdrew his order of "warrantless arrest" against Trillanes, a staunch critic of the president.
"A soldier must follow only legal orders of his superiors, whether the superior is the chief of staff or maybe even the president," Biazon told ANC's Headstart.
The former senator added that the soldiers who initially went to the Senate were being ordered to arrest Trillanes without being able to show a written and signed arrest order.
Duterte, under Proclamation 572, initially ordered the police and the military to arrest Trillanes. The president later on ordered the military to comply with the judicial process and let the court decide on the case of the senator.
If he were in the position of the soldiers ordered to arrest the senator, Biazon said he would have to study first the nature of the grant of amnesty before following the order.
"If it is very apparent that the order being issued is illegal, we, in our oath of office, said that we must only follow legal orders," Biazon said.
Did the Congress commite a mistake?
Following Duterte's new argument that former President Benigno Aquino III did not follow procedures in granting amnesty, Biazon raised the issue that other government agencies might have committed a mistake too.
"If indeed President Aquino did not sign the proclamation, was it wrong for the House of Representatives and the Senate together, Senate President (Juan Ponce) Enrile and Speaker (Sonny) Belmonte to sign the joint concurrent resolution?" Biazon asked.
Biazon stressed that Duterte cannot unilaterally revoke the amnesty grant without Congress concurrence.
The grant is also considered "absolute" which means that amnesty means to forget or forgive "as if everything that have been charged... against those being granted amnesty have been obliterated, erased."
"Did the Congress of the Republic of the Philippines, which according to Article VII Section 19 (of the Constitution), the grant of amnesty, unlike the grant of pardon, is a shared power between the chief executive and the Congress," he said.
Meanwhile, law expert and former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay warned that the revocation of Trillanes' amnesty grant might have an impact on peace negotiations.
“The president has, for some reason, placed on the line the integrity of the entire amnesty system of the government and even the peace process,” Hilbay said in an interview with ANC's Early Edition.
President Rodrigo Duterte has revoked amnesty granted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV in 2011 in relation to his involvement in mutinies against the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003, 2006 and 2007.
Duterte claims in Proclamation 572 that Trillanes "did not comply with the minimum requirements to qualify under the 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.
The Court of Appeals reaffirms the ruling of a Makati court judge to deny the government's appeal to arrest former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV over a revived coup d'etat case.
The CA rules that Judge Andres Soriano did not commit grave use of discretion, contrary to the claim of the Office of the Solicitor General.
"Therefore, it cannot be said that the grant of amnesty in favor of private respondent was validly revoked. As a result, the charges against private respondent in connection with the offenses "forgotten" or forgiven by the amnesty must be necessarily dropped," the CA says.
The continuation of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV's trial for a rebellion case has been moved to May as the Court of Appeals denies his petition for a TRO against it.
The CA denied the petition for TRO for the trial at Makati RTC Br. 150 saying doing so would mean granting the main prayer without trial.
Court of Appeals denies Sen. Trillanes’ plea for TRO vs rebellion trial at Makati court. Court says issuing a halt order would mean granting prayer for main petition, without trial. The court ordered Makati Judge 150 Alameda, DOJ to comment on the senator’s plea. | @kristinepatag pic.twitter.com/PNq6iS3lSi
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) March 19, 2019
The court has also directed Makati RTC Br. 150 Judge Elmo Alameda to comment on Trillanes' petition.
The rebellion case is over Trillanes' participation in the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege, for which amnesty was granted in 2011. President Rodrigo Duterte has voided the amnesty.
The Department of Justice has transmitted to the Office of the Solicitor General the order by Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 denying its motion for reconsideration on an earlier decision not to issue an arrest warrant for Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV over a coup d'etat case it dismissed in 2011.
The court has stood firm on its decision that Trillanes applied for amnesty and acknowledged guilt in mutinies against the Arroyo administration.
It also stood by the same decision that found that Proclamation 75, which voided Trillanes' amnesty, is legal and is within the president's powers to issue.
"We are transmitting the Joint Order for your office to consider the filing a petition for certiorari with the higher courts witin the time allowed by the Rules of court, " Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Fadullon, OIC prosecutor general, says in his letter.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo had initially said Solicitor General Jose Calida would go straight to the Court of Appeals and not wait for the Makati court to reconsider.
The Department of Justice will file a motion for partial consideration at Makati RTC Branch 148 by Friday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra tells reporters.
The motion will only ask the court to reconsider "only insofar as it found that sen trillanes had sufficiently shown that he filed his certificate of amnesty, and that therefore it follows that he also admitted his guilt."
The Palace had earlier said Solicitor General Jose Calida was already preparing a petition questioning the Makati court's resolution before the Court of Appeals.
Lawyer Rhodora Peralta, Makati RTC Br148 clerk of court, confirms that Judge Andres Soriano has issued a resolution on a Department Justice plea to issue a warrant of arrest against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
She says they will not give out copies until parties of the case receive the resolution first.
Makati RTC Br148 Clerk of Court lawyer Rhodora Peralta confirms that Judge Andres Soriano has issued resolution, but a copy has yet to be given to parties. She said they won’t give out copies until parties of the case receive the resolution. | via @kristinepatag pic.twitter.com/Sh4NYmz0CO
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) October 22, 2018
She refuses to give details on what the resolution says.
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