Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Tuesday said his case will be among those to be used by his lawyer to bolster their assertion that his amnesty was valid.
“That would be one of those to be presented by my lawyer. The process done to us was the same,” Trillanes said.
Unless someone actually questioned its application and validity, the amnesties granted by the five former presidents are still entitled to respect, the Palace maintained following the revocation of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s amnesty.
“Under the law, even if his act is null and void unless it’s actually questioned then it is entitled to respect,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque told reporters.
“Senator Trillanes is only unlucky that Solicitor General Jose Calida studied his application. Then it was found out that his amnesty is defective.”
On Tuesday he taunted resigned Davao City Mayor Paolo Duterte for charging him with libel over his allegations of extortion instead of his accusation that the presidential son was involved in drug smuggling.
“For some reason, he charged me based on an interview in Cebu which I can no longer remember, whatever was that, but he did not charge me about my accusations that he has links to illegal drugs, a graver crime,” Trillanes said.
The Justice department on Tuesday disparaged the relevance of some reports trying to assail the validity and constitutionality of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation 572, which nullified the amnesty granted to then military rebel leader and now Senator Trillanes.
Malacañang on Tuesday belied Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s claim that he and his family were under the surveillance of the military.
“First it’s drama. And now it appears to be paranoia,” Roque told reporters.
Trillanes said then President Benigno Aquino III first declared amnesty before he created an amnesty body to process and grant an amnesty.
In doing this, he insisted that this would not counter their stand that it was former President Noynoy Aquino who granted him an amnesty and not then-Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.
“It was really the President, the proclamation, it was really the President. They were talking about the certificate [of amnesty],” Trillanes said.
He said he was surprised with the low IQ of the people from Malacañang because if one would look at his license, the Secretary of Transportation was not the signatory.
“Now, theyæ± e saying that it cannot be delegated, the grant of amnesty cannot be delegated. The President grants the amnesty, sign the certificate, thatç—´ ministerial, thatç—´ approved by the President,said Trillanes.
He also reiterated his stance that the President could not void an amnesty once granted. He said there was no history in the world when an amnesty granted was taken back and voided. With Rey E. Requejo and Nat Mariano