Trillanes praises Soriano for court ruling: He personifies hope

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday afternoon faced the media with relief as he thanked and praised Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano’s ruling against his arrest.

He said in Filipino he was most thankful to God for answering his prayers for "good to triumph."

 "I would also like to thank Judge Soriano for single-handledly upholding justice and the rule of law in our country despite the extreme pressure coming from the Duterte regime,” he added.

Rep. Gary Alejano (Magdalo party-list), a Trillanes ally and a candidate for senator, earlier this month alleged without giving details that the government was pressuring Soriano on the Department of Justice's motion to order Trillanes' arrest over a rebellion case that had been dismissed in 2011 because of the amnesty that President Rodrigo Duterte voided last month.

The DOJ swiftly denied the allegation, with Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra saying Alejano's claim "tends to impede the orderly administration of justice, unfairly cast aspersion on the integrity of the DOJ and its state prosecutors and influence Judge Soriano’s decision-making process."

Trillanes said the 62-year-old Judge Soriano personified hope for our country.

"We are encouraged that there is still hope in our country. He is personified by Judge Soriano,” Trillanes said.

Alejano likewise praised God for the ruling, tweeting that "God heard our prayers."

Soriano on Monday issued  a decision denying the Department of Justice’s motion for warrant against Trillanes. However, he also upheld the validity of Proclamation 572 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte declaring the senator’s amnesty as void.'

READ: Makati court denies DOJ plea for Trillanes arrest

Soriano ruled that Proclamation 572 is a “purely executive act” and is well within the power of the president.

The judge said the court did not find basis “to believe that Proclamation 572 has breached any unconstitutional power of either the judicial or the executive branch.”

Due to this, Trillanes’s camp said they plan to convince Makati RTC Branch 150 Presiding Judge Elmo Alameda that there is a basis “to uphold immutability of a court decision.”

“One final decision of the court cannot be reopened,” Rey Robles, Trillanes’s lawyer said in Filipino in a press conference at the Senate.

Alameda granted DOJ’s plea on September 25.

'Court martial out of the question'

Robles said a court martial is out of the question, saying Trillanes was already a civilian in 2007 and there was a general order that approved his “ipso facto (by the very fact or act) resignation” as a result of his filing of a certificate of candidacy for senator.

Trillanes’s lawyer pointed out that Soriano earlier respected a previous court decision dismissing the coup d'etat case against his client.

Despite this, Robles said there is still a case at the Supreme Court questioning the legality of Proclamation 572.