MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) is set to bring the coup d’état case against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to the Court of Appeals (COA) after a Makati City court rejected its appeal to have the senator arrested.
DOJ secretary Menardo Guevarra told the media that he will now refer the matter to Solicitor General Jose Calida, who will be the one to file the motion before the appellate court.
“There’s not only one legal move available here but to CA,” Guevarra said in a short reply following the issuance of Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 148 denying DOJ’s motion.
Calida was the one who initiated the recovery of the invalidity of the amnesty provided to Trillanes, a former Navy officer involved in the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and the 2007 Manila Peninsula Siege.
Makati City RTC Branch 148 judge Andres Soriano on Friday affirmed its earlier decision not to issue an arrest warrant and hold departure order against Trillanes for the coup d etat case due to the 2003 mutiny.
At the same time, Soriano has also denied a separate motion of Trillanes to rule as unconstitutional the Proclamation No. 572, the presidential directive that revoked the lawmaker’s amnesty.
Soriano said that both motions were dismissed at it was a “mere rehash of the issues and arguments which have already been exhaustively threshed out, passed upon and discussed in the assailed order.”
“The Court has thoroughly reviewed all the evidence and pleadings presented and submitted by the parties, and it finds no reason to reverse or modify its findings, both factual and legal,” Soriano said./PN
