MANILA, Philippines (Update 3, 1:44 p.m.) — A Quezon City court issued a warrant of arrest against former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV for the government’s conspiracy to commit sedition case against him.
Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 138 issued an arrest warrant against Trillanes, Peter Joemel Advincula and nine others accused of plotting to destabilize the government.
The bail is set at P10,000. Fr. Flaviano Villanueva and Fr. Albert Alejo already posted bail and the warrants against them have been recalled.
Under the Revised Penal Code, the crime of "conspiracy to commit sedition" is punishable by imprisonment of from two years, four months and a day to four years and two months and a fine of up to P2,000.
Others charged in the case are:
- Jonnel Sangalang
- Yolanda Villanueva Ong
- Vicente Romano III
- Joel Saracho
- Eduardo Acierto
- Boom Enriquez
- "Monique"
Philstar.com reached out to Trillanes for confirmation but he has yet to reply
'Bikoy' to post bail next week
Lawyer Larry Gadon, who counselled for Advincula, told reporters that the latter has yet to receive the warrant, but he will voluntary surrender and post bail “either Monday or Tuesday.”
Advincula, a convicted swindler, claimed to be “Bikoy,” the hooded figure in the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos in two vastly different circumstances.
“[Advincula] is in a safe house somewhere in the north as he just came from Baguio and La Trinidad to appear in the reading of a judgement in his case in La Trinidad, which was dismissed,” Gadon added.
The STAR earlier reported that Advincula has at least two pending cases in Baguio and Benguet for illegal recruitment and estafa.
Gadon did not specify which case was dismissed.
Advincula’s testimony was central to the complaint filed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
State prosecutors, however, said they will “think about” if Advincula will serve as state witness in their conspiracy to commit sedition case.
Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia Laroza-Torrevillas said that Advincula may be the witness of the CIDG in their complaint but “the prosecution is not precluded from utilizing other witnesses, other evidence when [we] already reach the court.”
‘Grand conspiracy’ to topple government
In its resolution, state prosecutors said they "interlocking pieces of proof" that provide a "complete picture of the grand conspiracy between and among some respondents to create hatred or revenge against the president and his family with the end in view of toppling and destabilizing the current administration.”
In the resolution made public Thursday, state prosecutors said: “Clearly, the law punishes mere conspiracy or the agreement itself to raise commotion and disturbances; violate or engenders the public peace of the State.”
“Thus, respondents who merely agreed and decided among themselves to rise publicly and tumultuously in order to attain by force, intimidation, or by any other means outside of the legal methods the objects of sedition defined,” they added.