Trillanes, 2 others ask court to defer promulgation of Oakwood coup verdict

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and two other military officers implicated in the so-called Oakwood mutiny in 2003 have asked a Makati court to defer the announcement of the verdict on the coup d'etat case scheduled next week. In a seven-page motion filed this week, Trillanes, former Navy Lt SG James Layug, and Marine Capt. Gary Lejano asked the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 to postpone the promulgation of its decision slated for October 28. They asked the court to exercise judicial restraint as the House of Representatives and the Senate tackle President Benigno Aquino III's proclamation granting amnesty to about 300 former and active soldiers involved in three attempts to allegedly overthrow former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Under the 1987 Constitution, majority of members of Congress must concur with a president's decision to grant amnesty to political offenders. The three also invoked "inter-departmental courtesy" between the judiciary and the legislative branches in asking the court to defer the promulgation. "As a matter of inter-departmental comity and judicial courtesy towards two coordinate and co-equal branches of government, [Trillanes, Layug, and Lejano] most respectfully request and move the Honorable Court to exercise judicial restraint and to either suspend or defer the promulgation of judgment in the case in order to give the Senate and House of Representatives reasonable and sufficient opportunity to discuss, consider, and either adopt or reject the concurrent resolutions required to confirm Amnesty Proclamation No. 50 of the President," said the three. Prosecutors: Congress must bow to judiciary, not vice-versa On the other hand, government prosecutors handling the case opposed the three accused's motion and said "inter-departmental courtesy is not a sufficient legal basis" to postpone the promulgation. "This Honorable Court may arguably defer action if all the constitutional requirements for an amnesty are already complete [but even the three who filed the motion] would agree that they are not yet complete," said the prosecutors led by Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon. In an interview with GMA News and GMANews.TV, Senior State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, one of the prosecutors, said it is not the judiciary that should bow to Congress while it tackles President Aquino's amnesty grant. "It is Congress that should be deferring to the courts," said Navera, who also questioned the timing of the issuance of Proclamation No. 50 on the same month the Makati court was scheduled to promulgate the ruling on the Oakwood coup d'etat case. The prosecutors also asked the court to deny the three former military officers’ motion.—JV, GMANews.TV