PNoy: Trillanes to apply for amnesty Wednesday

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, one of the leaders in a number of military uprisings against the Arroyo administration, will apply for amnesty on Wednesday, President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III said Tuesday. At a press briefing at the Navy headquarters in Manila, Aquino said Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin informed him of Trillanes' intention to file on Wednesday his application for amnesty. "The SND (Secretary of National Defense) just informed me that Senator Trillanes will be applying tomorrow (Wednesday)," Aquino said. In a text message to GMANews.TV, Trillanes' lawyer Rey Robles confirmed that the former Navy officer indeed plans to apply for amnesty this week but he refused to specify what day. "All I can tell you now is that he plans to apply for amnesty during the next few days," Robles said. He added that he will just inform the media once their camp formally files the senator's application. Trillanes will apply for amnesty even though the amnesty's implementing rules and regulations (IRR) requires applicants to admit that they violated the 1987 Constitution, criminal laws and the Articles of War. Aquino’s Proclamation 75, which Congress approved, provides for the granting of amnesty to active and former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel and their supporters who figured in the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny, the February 2006 Marines standoff, and the November 2007 Manila Peninsula Hotel siege. The IRR requires applicants to personally file their application forms with the DND amnesty committee through its secretary within 90 days upon the publication of Proclamation 75 and its IRR. Oakwood mutiny While he was a Navy officer, Trillanes was one of those who led the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny. He was detained after joining more than 300 soldiers in seizing the Oakwood Premiere Hotel (now Ascott) in Makati City demanding the resignation of, among others, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whom they accused of corruption. In the May 2007 elections, Trillanes was elected to the Senate as guest candidate for the opposition. He became the first Philippine senator to be elected while in detention. Aquino was also elected senator that year, after spending nine years as member of the House of Representatives. On Nov. 29, 2007, Trillanes, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, Capt. Nicanor Faeldon and other Magdalo officials walked out of their trial and marched through the streets of Makati City, calling for the ouster of Mrs. Arroyo. They then headed to The Peninsula Manila Hotel at corner Ayala Avenue and Makati Avenue in Makati and seized its second floor. The siege ended when government troops forced their way into the hotel and arrested Trillanes and Lim – Faeldon evaded arrest, but he eventually yielded to authorities in July last year. The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 under Judge Oscar Pimentel granted Trillanes temporary release primarily because of Aquino's amnesty proclamation. He is currently under the custody of the Senate. — with Kim Tan/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV