MANILA, Philippines — Opposition senators called on the upper chamber to investigate President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation 572, which declared the amnesty given to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV void from the beginning.
Trillanes’ allies—Sens. Franklin Drilon, Bam Aquino, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros and Leila De Lima—on Tuesday filed Senate Resolution 887, directing a committee to look into the “fraudulent and erroneous” basis of the chief executive’s order.
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The minority senators also said that Proclamation 572 is being used to “silence” Trillanes, one of the most vocal critics of the Duterte administration.
“There is an imperative need to immediately look into this matter to ensure that the administration is not using and/or abusing the awesome powers of the presidency and its control over the military and the police to instill fear among the critics of the administration,” they said.
The opposition senators said the purpose of the inquiry is to look into “possible remedial legislation to prevent and /or avert possible abuse of presidential powers in the future.”
Last week, Duterte issued Proclamation 572, which nullified the amnesty given to Trillanes by the previous administration.
The order cited the former mutineer’s failure to comply with the application requirements for amnesty as the reason for the declaration of his amnesty as void from the outset.
This claim, however, was disproved by videos and documents of Trillanes’ amnesty filing.
Malacañang on Monday claimed that the amnesty granted to Trillanes by former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was void from the very start because the document was not properly signed.
The supposed “usurpation of authority” committed by former Defense chief Voltaire Gazmin was the “additional ground” that the administration cited.
Gazmin, however, was acting upon the directive of Aquino’s Proclamation 75, which granted amnesty to active and former personnel of the police and the military who were involved in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, 2006 Marines stand-off and 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.
Trillanes, who remains holed up in his Senate office, failed to secure immediate relief from the Supreme Court.
“Due to the issuance of said proclamation, Sen. Trillanes is effectively deprived of his liberty and is under constant threat of being arrested when in truth and in fact, there is no basis for an arrest as there is no arrest warrant and there are no cases filed against him justifying his arrest,” the opposition senators said. — Gaea Katreena Cabico