(Eagle News)–Senator Antonio Trillanes on Tuesday, Oct. 2, faced officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for the first time since the amnesty granted to him for the Oakwood mutiny and Peninsula Manila siege was revoked by Presidential Proclamation No. 572.
The proclamation had cited as bases Trillanes’ alleged failure to file an official application for the amnesty based on a certification issued by the military such a file was not available, and his alleged failure to make an express admission of guilt and to recant his statements.
The meeting took place during a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee on the Department of Defense’s proposed budget.
During the hearing, Trillanes questioned AFP Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana over what they had said was the lawmaker’s missing application for amnesty.
According to Galvez, while Lt. Col. Josefa Berbigal, who administered Trillanes’ oath, said Trillanes applied for amnesty, “there are some lapses po.”
“‘Di po naibaba ang mga dokumento [pabalik] sa J1 which is the repository of all the documents,” he said.
This prompted Trillanes to ask: “So nag-apply ako, sir? According to her?”
“Yes, sir .. according to her,” Galvez said.
Earlier, the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150, where Trillanes faces a rebellion case, ruled Trillanes could not prove he indeed applied for amnesty, amog others, and therefore approved the issuance of an arrest warrant and a hold departure order against him.
Judge Elmo Alameda said the “existence of the official copy of the amnesty application form could not be established” in the hearing on Sept. 14.
He said Trillanes failed to “present the original hard copy, a duplicate copy or even a photocopy showing that he personally accomplished and filed with the DND amnesty committee his official amnesty application form duly acknowledged and stamp-marked received by said office.”
Although Trillanes submitted secondary evidence, including an affidavit issued by former Defense Undersecretary Honorio Ascueta, chair of the Defense ad hoc committee who supposedly processed Trillanes’ application, and photographs, articles and video footage reporting what was supposed to be the filing of Trillanes of his amnesty application on Jan. 5, 2011, its presentation was “unavailing for failure to satisfy the requirements in laying the predicate under Rule 130, Sections 3, 5, 6 and 7 of the Rules of Court” in the first place, Alameda said.
Alameda also gave weight to a GMA news report that quoted Trillanes as saying: “We are man enough to admit that we have broken rules.”
It also quoted Trillanes as saying at the same time however that “I would like to qualify that we did not admit to the charge of ‘coup d’etat’ or anything na finile sa amin because we believe hindi iyon ang nararapat na charge na ginawa sa amin.”
“Seemingly, the statements and declarations made by Senator Trillanes when interviewed by GMA News…are in conflict and irreconcilable with his adamant position that he applied for amnesty and admitted his guilt..Since Senator Trillanes cannot produce the copy of the official application form of amnesty which he purportedly filed with the DND amnesty committee containing the admission of guilt expressly made, it can be safely stated here that Senator Trillanes failed to comply with the minimum requirement of expressly admitting his guilt for the offenses committed during the Oakwood mutiny and the Manila Peninsula incident, ” Alameda said.
