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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Trillanes fails to block trial

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Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has failed to get immediate relief from the Court of Appeals to stop his trial for rebellion, a case earlier revived by the Makati City Regional Trial Court.

In a three-page resolution, the appellate court’s Ninth Division ruled that to grant Trillanes’ plea for the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction would be tantamount to deciding on the merit of the petition, which seeks the reversal of the trial court’s order issued on Sept. 25, 2018, which granted the Department of Justice’s motion to reopen the rebellion case and to order Trillanes’ immediate arrest.

• Trillanes’ trial before a Makati Court will proceed as the Court of Appeals has turned down his plea to stop his indictment for rebellion.

In a resolution dated March 18, the court’s Ninth Division denied the application for a temporary restraining order filed by Trillanes’ counsel.

• Trillanes on Wednesday was thankful that the Court of Appeals had reportedly acted on his petition for certiorari by requiring Makati RTC Branch 150 to comment on it. 

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Trillanes filed a motion for reconsideration of the trial court’s ruling, but the Makati City RTC Branch 150 denied it.

Presiding Judge Elmo Alameda also set the resumption of Trillanes’ trial on March 20 with the presentation of prosecution witnesses.

That prompted Trillanes to elevate the case before the appellate court, branding the trial court’s decision as a “whimsical and arbitrary act of ignoring established jurisprudence.”

But the appellate court took note of the Supreme Court’s action on a similar petition filed by Trillanes, in which it denied his prayer for ancillary relief to prevent the enforcement of Proclamation 572 on the ground that the issue of whether or not the senator availed of Amnesty Proclamation 75 was for the trial courts to determine.

“Given the foregoing facts, the ancillary remedies applied for may not be granted at this time without running afoul with the principle that provisional reliefs may not be granted in advance of the main action where the provisional relief is the very remedy prayed for the complaint or petition,” the appellate court said.

The court gave the Justice department 10 days to comment on Trillanes’ petition.

Trillanes’ rebellion case was dismissed by the Makati Court on Sept. 7, 2011, after then-President Benigno Aquino III granted Trillanes amnesty. However, the amnesty was revoked by virtue of Proclamation 572 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on the ground that the senator failed to comply with the requirements to qualify for an amnesty.

Specifically, the Justice department claimed that Trillanes failed to file an application form with an admission of his guilt.

Meanwhile, the Makati RTC has rescheduled the resumption of his trial on May 27.

The rebellion case arose from Trillanes participation in the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007 to topple the Arroyo administration. With PNA and Macon Ramos-Araneta

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