MANILA – The judge who refused to issue a warrant of arrest and hold departure order against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV could be liable for “grave abuse of discretion,” according to the Department of Justice.
Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon said he will refer the matter about Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano to the Office of Solicitor General.
“We are transmitting the Joint Order (to OSG) to consider the filing of a petition for certiorari with higher courts within the time allowed under the Rules of Court,” the Justice department official wrote the OSG.
“We believe there was grave abuse on the part of the presiding judge,” he added. “However, it is only a possible option that may be considered.”
Under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court, a petition for certiorari questions the lack or excess of jurisdiction of a tribunal or the grave abuse of discretion in the exercise of its jurisdiction, and may be filed at either the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court.
Soriano rejected the DOJ’s motion for the issuance of a hold departure order and alias warrant of arrest against Trillanes for a coup d’état charge in relation to the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, since the case had been dismissed in 2011.
At the same time Soriano ruled that President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation 972, which revoked the amnesty granted to Trillanes, had factual basis.
Both the DOJ and Trillanes appealed the verdict before Soriano’s sala but the presiding judge upheld his earlier verdict, with no new arguments presented in the appeal./PN
