MANILA, Philippines — Embattled Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV accused on Wednesday Solicitor General Jose Calida of "stealing" his amnesty application documents, the absence of which became a crucial factor in the legislator's arrest the previous day.
"Nananawagan ako sa leadership ng Armed Forces (of the Philippines) and Department of National Defense..., alam nila na nag-apply ako, alam nila na mayroon akong dokumento, bakit hinayaan nilang kuhanin ito at iwala ni Mr. Calida?" Trillanes said in a press briefing.
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The "missing" application document was the main reason cited by Judge Elmo Alameda of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 in granting the government's plea to issue an arrest warrant and hold departure order against Trillanes on Monday for rebellion charges it already dismissed in 2011.
The court did not accept numerous documents filed by Trillanes, including the affidavit of the officer who received his amnesty application to prove the validity of his amnesty.
'DND is custodian of the document'
The senator said a filled-up application form for any purpose like securing government IDs is never duplicated and that he could not be expected to have a copy of it.
"Kahit na sino sa inyo ang mag apply ng kahit anong lisensya, passport o kahit magopen kayo ng bank account, hindi kayo binibigyan ng kopya ng application form," Trillanes said.
"Walang receiving copy ang application form," he told reporters.
Trillanes, a former military man, said the court wronged in looking at him, instead of the government, to produce the document.
"Kung meron silang paghahanapan nito, ang paghahanapan nila dapat yung custodian ng dokumento which is the Department of National Defense," he said.
Earlier, the AFP said it was Calida who personally asked for Trillanes' amnesty records from the military. The DND claimed it could not locate Trillanes' application for amnesty, saying it could have been lost during renovations made on DND offices.
Trillanes: Gov't has burden of proof
The lost application document became the basis of President Rodrigo Duterte's Proclamation 572, which voided Trillanes' amnesty on the basis that he did not apply and he did not admit guilt for crimes of rebellion and coup d'etat for his participation on separate military sieges at Oakwood Hotel in 2003 and Peninsula Manila in 2007.
Since the amnesty is deemed void, the Department of Justice decided to pursue cases against Trillanes which were already dismissed in 2011.
Alameda's court is the one hearing the rebellion charges, while Makati RTC branch 148 hears the coup d'etat case. The latter has yet to issue any ruling the on petition for a separate arrest warrant against Trillanes.
Trillanes maintained the government has the burden to prove that he did not apply for amnesty.
"They never presented any evidence na hindi ako nag-apply... There should be presumption of regularity," he said.