Trillanes faces grave threat case, up for arraignment

MANILA, Philippines (Update 2, 11:52 a.m.) — Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is facing yet another case as a local prosecutor charged the senator with grave threat from a complaint filed by Labor Undersecretary Jing Paras.

A state prosecutor found probable cause to indict Trillanes on violation of Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code. The Department of Labor and Employment official said that Trillanes, on May 29, 2018, threatened to kill him.

READ: Labor exec Paras slaps Trillanes with grave threat rap

The information or charge sheet included the following quotes Trillanes allegedly told Paras at the sidelines of a Senate hearing:

“Ang lakas ng loob mo. Hindi magtatanggol ang amo mo. Matatapos din yan. Yayariin kita. Mersenaryo ka. Yayariin kita.”

(You’re gutsy. Your master won’t protect you. That will end. I will finish you. You are a mercenary. I will finish you.)

“Tatawa-tawa ka pa. May araw ka din. Yayariin kita.”

(Go on, laugh. You will have your end. I will end you.)

“Suwerte mo... mabait itong... secretary kun’di yayariin kita eh.”

(You’re lucky... this secretary is nice, if he was not, I will finish you.)

The purportedly statements of Trillanes “[created] fear and anxiety on the mind of [Paras] that the threats will be carried out,” read the document signed by Assistant City Prosecutor Janette Herras-Baggas.

The case was raffled off to the sala of Pasay Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 47 Acting Presiding Judge Joeven Dellosa on December 7.

Dellosa set the arraignment and preliminary conference of the case in the morning of February 15.

The order dated Dec. 14, 2018 was made public only on Friday.

“The private complainant (Paras) is directed to appear before the Court on the same date for purposes of plea bargaining, where allowed, and notification of trial dates,” Dellosa said in his one-page order.

Trillanes: I will face latest suit squarely

“Like all the other harassment cases filed against me, I will face this squarely,” the senator said in a statement.

Trillanes said that he has returned to the country on Wednesday, January 9.

The senator went to Europe in December for a series of speaking engagements in Amsterdam, Barcelona and London.

He is due to leave again on January 27 to Feb. 10, 2019 for a series of activities in California, Washington D.C. and Maryland.

The grave threat case is just one of the suits Trillanes is facing.

Paras and lawyer Manuelito Luna filed inciting to sedition and conspiracy or proposal to commit coup d’etat before a Pasay prosecutor.

The senator is also facing a libel case before a Davao court.

Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 earlier upheld its issuance of a warrant against the senator over a revived rebellion case over his involvement in the 2007 Manila Peninsula incident.

Makati Judge Elmo Alameda stood by his earlier ruling that President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation 572, which declared Trillanes’ amnesty as void from the beginning, had factual basis.

Trillanes is one of the staunchest critics of the president.