Filtered By: Topstories
News

Aquino: Exoneration for Trillanes not being sought


President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III said he is not seeking the exoneration of detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, even though he thinks the lawmaker may have been a victim of injustice. Aquino on Monday said a different charge could have been filed against Trillanes, insisting that the elements required for a coup d'etat, for which the senator was charged and incarcerated, did not exist during the "Oakwood Mutiny." Aquino said the Revised Penal Code does not list attack on hotels, which was what Oakwood was, as an element of a coup d'etat. "Baka mas appropriate rebellion o baka sedition pero coup d'etat finile sa kanila at yun ang basis ba't kinulong sila (Perhaps it would've been more appropriate if they were charged with rebellion or sedition, but it was coup d'etat that was filed against them and that was the basis for their incarceration)," he said in an ambush interview in Malacanang. Trillanes is facing coup d’etat charges before the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 148 for participating in the so-called Oakwood Mutiny on July 27, 2003. He also stands accused of violating Articles of War 96 or Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and Gentleman in connection with the incident at Oakwood. The senator later also faced rebellion charges before the Makati City RTC Branch 150 for taking part in the so-called Manila Peninsula hotel siege in November 2007. Trillanes has posted a P200,000 bail before the Makati RTC Branch 150 "in anticipation of the possibility" that Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati RTC Branch 148 would grant the senator's earlier motion for a leave-from-detention to attend the opening of the Senate session. No interference? Aquino said the review order he issued to the Department of Justice (DOJ) should not be interpreted as interfering in Trillanes's cases which are already pending before the courts. "The request of the review is for the DOJ to come up with an opinion on what the proper course of action should be cause they are the experts," said Aquino. "Yung actual motion (The actual motion), they either have already forwarded it to the courts or will be forwarding, is they're leaving it to the discretion of the court regarding the petition of Sen. Trillanes like attending the Senate session," he said. "We did not even forward an opinion as to what should be the response of the court. We left it up to the wisdom of the court. Sa amin internal guidelines on Sen. Trillanes's case and several others," the president added. In a separate press briefing earlier in the day, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda maintained that Aquino's review order for the DOJ does not count as interference. "There is no interference there. We will leave it to the wisdom of the courts to decide on the matter," Lacierda said. "If you are familiar with criminal procedure, there's always the involvement of the executive through the DOJ," he said, adding that Aquino only wanted to know what government prosecutors have done. Senate presidency Lacierda also said Aquino's order to review Trillanes's case has nothing to do with the race for the Senate presidency. "It's totally alien and different from what the president has mentioned," said Lacierda. If Trillanes's petition for bail is approved, he could give one vote for Senator Francis Pangilinan, Aquino's Liberal Party's bet for the Senate's top post. Trillanes's spokesman, lawyer Reynaldo Robles, however, said this is still uncertain as Trillanes has made no public declaration of who he will vote for. –VVP, GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT