Trillanes confident inciting to sedition charge will be junked

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a critic of President Duterte, has asked the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office to dismiss the charges of inciting to sedition and conspiracy or proposal to commit coup d’etat against him for being baseless and a “no-brainer.” 

“Madali ito (This is easy)… this would be a no-brainer for any objective and fair-minded prosecutor,” Trillanes said in an interview on Thursday as he submitted his counter-affidavit.

According to Trillanes, the complaint was filed by his accusers “to harass me and to show their loyalty to Duterte.”

The prosecution is set to file its reply to Trillanes’ counter-affidavit on Nov. 8.

In his 35-page counter-affidavit, Trillanes asserted his parliamentary immunity as the complainants accused him of using foul language against President Duterte, who issued Proclamation 572 that invalidated the amnesty granted to the senator by the past administration.

Complainants included Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Undersecretary Jacinto Paras, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) commissioner Manuelito Luna and lawyers Nasser Marohomsalic, Alvaro Bernabe Lazaro and Eligio Mallari.

“The alleged offensive words/language of (Trillanes), if any, are covered by his parliamentary immunity as a senator as expressly provided by the 1987 Constitution,” the senator’s counter-affidavit read.

The complaint against Trillanes contained “mishmashed, rambling and incoherent collection of barely related articles thrown together without much thought to try to come up with a semblance of a complaint,” it added.

Trillanes also cited a portion of the complaint containing a story released by The Associated Press wherein he said, “Duterte will not be there for long, please do not do anything illegal or unconstitutional.”

“He (Trillanes) never actually called on the military not to follow the President’s order but only cautioned them from doing anything illegal or unconstitutional,” Trillanes’ counter-affidavit, prepared by his lawyers Reynaldo Robles and Dustin Garvida, further read.

The senator’s lawyers also said that “newspapers and online articles” were not only “hearsay” but “double hearsay” and could not reasonably establish what a person did or did not say.

Trillanes also asserted that he is covered by parliamentary immunity and the right to free speech, “since the alleged utterances indubitably took place at the Senate” ahead of his committee hearing.

Trillanes also pointed out in his counter-affidavit that complainants failed to provide sufficient bases for them to prove that the senator committed inciting to sedition and conspiracy or proposal to commit coup d’ etat through his statements.

The complainants filed the charges against Trillanes in mid-September due to the statements he allegedly made against President Duterte after issuing Proclamation No. 572, all done inside the Senate where he confined himself while awaiting resolutions from Makati City courts on the Department of Justice’s petition to issue an arrest warrant and hold departure order (HDO) against him following the revocation of his amnesty.

The Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 148 dismissed the DOJ’s petition against Trillanes while RTC Branch 150 issued an arrest warrant and HDO against the senator but allowed him to post bail.