Trillanes to post bail in sedition case next week

MANILA, Philippines (Update 1, 3:07 p.m.) — Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV will return to Manila next week to face the government’s conspiracy to commit sedition case against him.

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Trillanes in a statement sent to reporters said he is “out of the country as of the moment for a series of engagements."

The former senator said he intends to post bail when he arrives in Manila late next week.

Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 138 issued warrants on the Department of Justice case against Trillanes and 10 others on Thursday.

Bail is set at P10,000.

RELATED: DOJ indicts Trillanes, 10 others on conspiracy to commit sedition over 'Bikoy' videos

Fr. Flaviano Villanueva and Fr. Albert Alejo, two of the accused, already posted bail and the warrants against them have been recalled.

“I will face this case just as I have faced all the other harassment cases [President Rodrigo] Duterte's minions have filed against me," Trillanes said. 

The charge stemmed from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group’s complaint which drew largely from the testimony of Peter Joemel Advincula. who twice claimed to be “Bikoy,” of the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos. 

Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia Laroza-Torrevillas said that the prosecution panel considered “the series of acts which clearly manifested that there is indeed... a grand conspiracy.”

These are the production of “Bikoy” videos, uploading, press conferences of Advincula, and former cop Eduardo Acierto—also charged in the case—linking Duterte and his family to illegal drug syndicates.

Trillanes said he met Advincula, also charged in the case, in 2018 but the latter did not pass the vetting process as he found the allegations as not credible.

Cases against Trillanes

The conspiracy to commit sedition is the latest in the string of legal suits the government filed against the former lawmaker in recent years.

Trillanes, a known critic of Duterte, is facing a revived rebellion case before a Makati court, over his participation in the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.

Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 issued a warrant against him on Sept. 25, 2018 after it found “factual and legal basis” on Duterte’s Proclamation 572 which declared Trillanes’ amnesty as “void from the beginning.” 

The former senator is also facing an inciting to sedition case before the Pasay Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 45 for his remarks on Duterte’s hidden wealth. He was also charged with the same offense for his remarks against the president over the revocation of his amnesty.

The senator is also facing a libel charge filed by former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and Manases Carpio, the president's son and son-in-law, respectively, before a Davao court.