MANILA – The amnesty application form that Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and others who availed themselves of the 2010 presidential grant filled up was “defective,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon made the statement after his appearance at the hearing set by the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 148 on Friday afternoon.
“Our opinion is that the form itself is defective,” said Fadullon, who pointed out that the form Trillanes and other filled up lacks specific crimes such as coup d’état and rebellion for the former mutineers to admit guilt to.
“The thing there is it could have been corrected if they were able to show na meron talagang pag-amin, kasi parang napakaseryoso nu’ng offense para lang gawin mong check-the-box and then fill-in-the-blanks,” he added.
“One does not admit guilt to an incident, because an incident is not an offense,” Fadullon furthered. “As a consequence of that incident, there are crimes for which they were charged. ‘Yun ang sinasabi ng batas na ‘yun ang i–aadmit mo na kung saan ka guilty.”
Fadullon said the mistakes could have been fixed by the filing of a specific affidavit where the amnesty applicant admits to and asks for forgiveness for crimes committed.
President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation 572 which states that the amnesty extended to Trillanes was “void ab initio,” or void from the start, because he did not comply with the “minimum requirements to qualify under the amnesty proclamation.”
The proclamation stated that Trillanes did not file an Official Amnesty Application Form and has never expressed his guilt for the crimes that were committed during the two mutinies./PN
