(Eagle News)–Solicitor General Jose Calida on Thursday, Sept. 27, threatened to file charges against Senator Antonio Trillanes after the senator accused him of stealing his amnesty application document.
In a statement, Calida said he would be “constrained to file a criminal case for libel plus damages” against the senator unless he “expresses his sincere apology for calling me a thief.”
“Obviously, Mr. Trillanes’ rationality (assuming he had one) has deserted him,” Calida said, calling the senator a “putschist.”
In the first place, Calida said “what is there to steal when Lt. Col. Thea Joan N. Andrade, Chief of the Discipline, Law and Order Division of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (J1) who is the custodian of the records issued a Certification that there is no available copy of Trillanes’ application for amnesty in the records?”
Secondly, Calida said he “never entered the offices of the J1 or the Personnel Division of the AFP at Camp Aguinaldo.”
“So how could I ‘steal’ documents kept there?” Calida asked.
According to the Solicitor General, it appeared Trillanes “did not bother to read with perspicacity the Proclamation No. 572 series of 2018, concerning the revocation of the DND Ad Hoc Committee Resolution No. 2 (#1) dated January 31, 2011 insofar as it granted amnesty to him.”
Calida explained the revocation was “anchored on at least two minimum requirements which were not complied with.”
He said Trillanes “did not file an Official Amnesty Application Form and the sworn statement or narration of his participation in the Oakwood and Manila Peninsula incidents which was required to be annexed to his application,” nor did he “express his guilt for the crimes which he committed” for the Oakwood coup d’etat and Peninsula Manila rebellion in 2003 and 2007 respectively.
Calida based his conclusion on a news article that quoted Trillanes as saying that “they were not admitting guilt to the mutiny and coup d’etat charges lodged against them both in the civil and military courts” and “I would like to qualify that we did not admit to the charge of coup d’etat or anything na i-finile sa amin kasi we believe na hindi iyon and nararapat na i-charge sa amin.”
“If we follow the convoluted logic of Mr. Trillanes, he’s saying that he did not commit the crimes that were covered by the amnesty,” Calida said.
“If that is what he really means, then he has no need for amnesty because when one applies for amnesty he must expressly admit his guilt to the crimes he committed. Moreover, DND-AC Circular No. 1 further requires the applicants to recant all previous statements inconsistent with the requirement of admission of that guilt which he never did,” Calida added.