MANILA – It is up to President Rodrigo Duterte if he also wants to revoke the amnesty granted to other Magdalo soldiers, the Department of Justice said.
The Department of National Defense recently admitted it has no record of the applications for amnesty of 277 soldiers involved in three attempted coups from 2003 to 2007.
Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon had also said the application form Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and his fellow Magdalo soldiers were “defective.”
“For now, the focus is on Senator (Antonio) Trillanes’ amnesty grant,” Justice secretary Menardo Guevarra said. “It is up to the President what he wants to do with the grant of amnesty to other individuals.”
“Executive clemency involves the exercise of discretion, and the President as chief executive and commander-in-chief enjoys a lot of freedom in exercising this prerogative,” he added.
In Proclamation 572 Duterte said the amnesty granted to Trillanes was “void ab initio (from the start)” because he did not comply with “minimum requirements to qualify under the amnesty program.”
Duterte accused Trillanes – one of his fiercest critics – of not filing an Official Amnesty Application Form and never expressing guilt for two mutinies he led.
On Sept. 25 Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda granted the motion of the Justice department in connection with the rebellion charge against Trillanes and other Magdalo soldiers for the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007.
Trillanes was arrested and booked but was allowed to post a P200,000 bail.
Makati City RTC Branch 148, meanwhile, has yet to decide on a plea, also from the Justice department, over a coup charge against Trillanes. Coup d’état is a non-bailable offense./PN
