MANILA – The camp of presidential son Paolo Duterte on Thursday urged the Davao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 54 to cancel the bail of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV in relation to the libel cases the lawmaker faces.
An urgent motion filed by Duterte’s lawyers Rainier L. Madrid, Peter L. Danao and Alvin A. Carullo said Trillanes should be arrested immediately as he is a “flight risk.”
The motion stated that Trillanes was already “guilty of flight” when he went abroad last month to attend to his speaking engagements in Amsterdam, Barcelona and London from Dec. 11, 2018 to Jan. 11, 2019.
“Apparently, accused flew out of Philippine jurisdiction without prior leave or permission from this court,” it said. “Having departed for abroad without court permission, accused is guilty of flight. He has stepped out of Philippine jurisdiction, hence beyond its reach.”
Duterte also noted that Trillanes’ temporary liberty, which was posted last December in Manila, is a contract with the court and pushing through with his trip is considered “repudiation of the contract.”
“While he has self-servingly expressed no intention to evade these criminal charges, his actual flight belies it. Intent to flee is irrelevant, when in fact accused had been guilty of actual flight,” the motion stated.
Prior to Trillanes’ leaving the country last month, the opposition senator filed motions in various courts and asked that he be allowed to travel abroad.
Makati City Regional Trial Court Judge Elmo Alameda has granted Trillanes’ request.
The libel case against Trillanes, filed by Duterte and presidential son-in-law Manases Carpio, stemmed from the senator’s accusation that the two demanded money from ride-sharing company Uber.
In his complaint, Duterte said Trillanes had claimed in a radio interview that he and Carpio connived with Region 7 Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board regional director Ahmed Cuison to extort from Uber.
In December 2018, Davao City RTC Branch 54 judge Melinda Dayanghirang issued four arrest warrants against Trillanes.
The senator posted bail of P96,000 – P24,000 for each of the four counts – at the Pasay RTC Branch 118./PN
