Quantcast Judge hears arguments on Trillanes appeal for Senate pass - Eleksyon 2007

Judge hears arguments on Trillanes appeal for Senate pass

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By DJ Yap Inquirer MANILA, Philippines--The Makati court handling the coup d'etat case against Sen ator Antonio Trillanes IV will hear on Friday his motion appealing the ruling r ejecting his request for furlough to attend Senate sessions. Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 will hear th e arguments of both parties on whether he should reverse his decision denying T rillanes leave to perform his Senate duties while under detention. On Thursday, the prosecution panel led by Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Rich ard Anthony Fadullon and State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera filed another plead ing opposing Trillanes' motion, which they said smacked of special treatment. "Accused Trillanes is not asking for nothing; he is asking for too muchâ¦He wan ts to be out of detention from morning to evening to attend all Senate sessions at the GSIS Building in Pasay City," they said. "He wants a working area in the Marine brig with telephone lines and Internet a ccess. He wants to receive members of his staff at all times. He wants access t o media at all times," the prosecutors added. They said Trillanes' motion was "uncannily similar" to former Zamboanga del Nor te representative Romeo Jalosjos' "motion to be allowed to discharge mandate as member of the House of Representatives," after he was elected while in detenti on on charges of statutory rape and acts of lasciviousness. The motion was denied when Jalosjos' conviction was upheld. "He [Trillanes] should just admit to this Honorable Court that he is asking for special treatment as a Senator of the Republic," the prosecutors said. Earlier, Trillanes said denying him the chance to perform his duties was like a "slap in the face" of the 11 million who voted for him, and was akin to "denyi ng the people's will, repudiating their choice and overruling their mandate as the sovereign of the nation." Trillanes asked the court to grant him leave to attend all official Senate func tions, increased media access, and a workstation inside his cell. In denying Trillanes' motion, Pimentel cited the "Jalosjos doctrine," which sta ted: "When the voters of his district elected the accused-appellant to Congress , they did so with full awareness of the limitation on his freedom of action." Pimentel agreed with the Jalosjos doctrine that "allowing a prisoner to attend congressional sessions and committee meetings for five days or more in a week w ill virtually make him a free man" and would constitute preferential treatment. Trillanes argued that Jalosjos was charged with various counts of rape and lasc iviousness, crimes involving moral turpitude, while he was charged with the off ense of coup d'etat, "a charge which is commonly regarded as a political offens e." He added that Jalosjos was convicted at the time he sought furlough to serve hi s term, while he is still undergoing trial. A better comparison, said Trillanes, would be with the cases of former presiden t Joseph Estrada and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Nur M isuari, who were allowed some liberties to perform political functions. The prosecutors, however, argued that citing the Estrada and Misuari cases "ass umes the trees for the forest." "The vast majority of non-bailable detention prisoners, who are not among the ' contemporary examples' cited by accused Trillanes, do not enjoy special treatme nt," they said.

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19 Comments

TO ALL
I know this to be terribly out of place. Please bear with me. I just want to
create awareness by choosing the busy forum or the latest.
Do consider Dr. Martin Bautista for the next elections obviously (a senatorial
candidate of âAng Kapatiranâ together with Adrian Sison and Zosimo Paredes). H
eâs a 44-year-old gastroenterologist in the US who came home after 17 years. Y
ou can see from his background that he truly means service. For those who find
him to be a hypocrite for working abroad, do understand heâs a family man who
needs to sustain his family, that he will be able to keep his independence by n
ot relying on public funds to support his family. He helps his countrymen in h
is capacity but itâs just not enough for there are millions of Filipinos. Itâs
a good start in Philippine Politics to have him and his party around.
I urge you to forward/text/inform all your contacts about them. I believe they
only lack exposure thatâs why Iâm doing this. But I canât do it alone so Iâm
appealing to everyoneâs help. If all will inform their contacts about them and
urge them as well to forward, we might hit a million.
We cannot afford to be indifferent now if we want meaningful change. Otherwise
we only have ourselves to blame. BUT TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

BTW, Iâve posted this on the different topics just to be sure.

For me, I would rather grant Trillanes to attend and perform Senate functions.
To contemplate in one case decided by the Supreme Court, it hold (in my own wo
rds): "that any candidate for public office who had been charged of crime (like
Trillanes), the people is very much aware of the charges imputed against him.
In the event that this public official became elected or won in the public offi
ce which he sought for, it is understood that the majority (11 million) who vot
ed for him - forgave or pardoned whatever his faults or transgressions he made
against the people." It is now the people who made the judgment! Let's not wa
it with the Supreme Court washing once more their hands in the future that the
case with regards to Estrada and Arroyo is not a judicial question but a politi
cal question whom people is the judge. Trillanes is asking to perform his duti
es not for his liberty but for and by the people! Amen.

The rape case of Rep. Jalosjos is very different from that of the coup charges
against Sen. Trillianes.

A coup d' etat attempt can be of moral support from the religious sectors (CBCP
), from the people, from the military and even by other gov't officials but a r
ape case is absolutely wrong in the context morality.

Voting Trillianes to be inside congress is the other way of saying that, "the f
ilipino people are behind him in his quest for truth".

His senatorialship status should not be considered an excuse for him to be give
n special consideration.. A special treatment is only accorded to people who t
ruly deserve such. If the court will yield to his requests to be out of detenti
on five days a week he might as well be released from jail and be a free man. T
he 11 million voters who voted for him have already known of his limitations to
represent them in the senate but given that consequences, they still did. SO B
E IT

Rebellion cases must be judge according to case by case basis. Like what maybe
good for Juan may not be good for Pablo. Trillanes was all "porma" lang. He did
n't actually committed the crime. Gringo was armed to the teeth and ready to ta
ke over the government. He was using the PAF planes to stray bullets on soldier
s at Camp Aguinaldo and Crame.That's the difference.
Free Trillanes then, like you freed Gringo and let them work to continue their
fights in the senate, NOT in the field.

linda,

Correct ... special treatment are only accorded to people with the likes of Gar
ci and Bedol, those who are involved in the Fertilizer scam, the policemen invo
lved in warrantless arrests of innocent citizens, Maj. Mosqueda, Gambling Lords
, people in the DFA who doctored passports, people in DFA who gave special trea
tment to Chinese fishing vessels illegally trawling off our Marine sanctuaries,
those who made a midnight executive order so as those who are exposing fraud a
re the ones jailed instead of the guilty ones, those Trapos who attempted to ma
ngle our Constitution, those who broke up peaceful protest assemblies, those wh
o threatened the media, those who institutionalize cover-ups ... to name a few.
As you have said SO BE IT.

I applaud Senator Trillanes for a very well articulated rationale on why he sho
uld be allowed to attend Senate hearings.

It is true that he is not accused of a criminal offense but of a political offe
nse, which shall always be subject to a judgement based on the prevailing polit
ical suassion.

Did not the Supreme Court itself rule that GMA's ascension to the Presidency wa
s legal, however it went against existing jurisprudence, because the prevailing
political situation at the time, as expressed by the sentiments of the people
at EDSA, was for it to be judged as so.

Now, more than 11 million Filipinos voiced their preference for Senator Trillan
es to be in the Senate, as against the measly number of those who were at EDSA
when President Estrada was forced out of office, and for the court to deny the
people's will this time would smack of selective and subjective justice.

Trillanes' case is not criminal. He did not rape a child. He did not kill anyon
e. He is a victim of the corruption in the military. He was pushed to the wall.
The coup was his last straw. No one listened to him when he was complaining ab
out the corruption around him. Gloria Arroyo just dismissed him instead of inve
stigating the truth behind his complaints. He was voted by the people. He shoul
d be allowed to attend the sessions and do his responsibilities. This governmen
t is shortchanging us in many ways!

He should not be given preferential treatment by allowing him to attend senate
hearing. Trillanes has been a pain for the government for the last 4 years. Gra
nting his appeal would cause an added burden to the government. It has to be no
ted that his election to the senate does not exonerate him from the offense he
committed, which is criminal in character. The best he can do is to admit his c
ulpability and suffer the consequences as a true gentleman military officer ins
tead of seeking media mileage lambasting the government, the AFP in particular,
where he belongs, without any basis at all.

Trillanes case is not criminal. Then what do you call his acts, occupying a 5 S
tar Hotel, brandishing guns, planting bombs and threatening mayhems if his dema
nds for the President to resign was not met? You call that peaceful demonstrati
on? His peaceful acts nearly collapsed the economy and portrayed the country as
unstable in the eyes of the world. His crime could be considered as an act of
terror punishable under the HSA. He should be put into a dungeon and not in the
Senate.

Kabayan

OH YEAH I FORGOT........LAPSED OF MEMORY ANYMORE!!!!!!!

AMEN TO THAT


memory

Trillanes violated his oath as an officer in the
military service. While his complaints may be well founded, he should have bro
ught it to the attention of the Inspector General. It appears that he is misgu
ided violating the principles he sworn in to uphold, now you want him to serve
as a Senator. The country need a make over to overcome the corruption but it c
an not be accomplished by putting someone with the ambition of running the coun
try by force -- coup d'etat -- he should be tried by court martial, found guilt
y and serve time in jail.

anonymous,

As it is the Executive Branch and the magkAKAMPIs by their abuses violated the
ir oath to the Filipino people, a far more grave violation indeed.

yah right!!!

This is absurd. He is accused not convicted. But they treating him as a convict
ed person. Does everyone understand the difference. Jalosjos raped a Victim w
hereas trillanes exposed the dirty laundry of the government. Somebody says her
e that he is a pain in the Government, that is a praise to Trillanes.

Bakit hindi na lang natin hintayin ang pasya ng korte tungkol dito. Magtalo man
tayo maghapon at magdamag ganoon pa rin ang kahahantungan nito. Doon sa nagsa
sabing wala siyang kasalanan, bakit hindi kayo pumunta sa korte at tumestigo p
ara sa kanya? Hindi tanga si Trillanes para hindi niya maisip na maaring mangya
ri ito. Alam niyang may kaso siya at alam niyang kailangan niya itong panagutan
. Ang kaniyang pagkapanalo bilang senador ay walang kinalaman sa usaping ito.Da
hil kung hahayaan nating ang eleksiyon ang magsilbing basehan sa mga kasong ki
nasasangkutan ng mga kandidato, ay malamang malaya pa sa ngayon ang tulad ni Ja
losjos. Di ba't kahit siya (Jalosjos)ay nasentensiyahan na at nakakulong ay mak
ailang-ulit pa siyang nahalal sa kaniyang distrito?
Doon sa mga nagsasabing dapat ay gawing bayani si Trillanes dahil sa p
agsasaad ng baho ng gobyerno ay dapat mag-isip ng mabuti. Dahil kung ito lang b
asehan ninyo ng kabayanihan ay dapat ninyo ring itanghal na bayani ang mga NPA,
Abu Sayaff at iba pang kaaway ng bayan dahil madalas din silang nagsasabi ng k
abulukan ng pamahalaan. At madalas din silang gumamit ng dahas para ipaunawa sa
atin ang kanilang ipinakikipaglaban. Hindi na bale kung ito ay nakakaapekto sa
pangkahalahatang seguridad at kaayusan.
Sa ganang akin, hindi masama ang magsabi ng iyong hinanakit o saloob
in pero dapat mo itong gawin sa tama at legal na pamamaraan. Kaya nga tayo may
batas para mailagay sa ayos ang mag bagay-bagay. Ginawa ang mga ito para sa la
hat at hindi para sa iilan. Kung may problema tayo sa batas ay kailangang gumaw
a tayo ng paraan para ito mabago, pero pansamantala dapat natin itong igalang.
Si Trillanes ay isang alagad ng batas. Bilang isang opisyal ng militar ay alam
niya ang kahalagahan ng disiplina sa isang organisasyon. Kung may problema siya
sa pamamalakad ng militar o pamahalan man dapat niyang igalang ang proseso uko
l dito. Sa pinili niyang pamamaran ay marami ang napinsala at naapektuhan. Bila
ng isang opisyal at maginoong tao kailangan niyang sagutin ng tapat ang mga ka
tanungan ukol dito sa harap ng batas at hindi sa paningin ng publiko.

TO ALL
I know this to be out of place. Please bear with me. I just want to create aw
areness by choosing the busy forum or the latest.
Do consider Dr. Martin Bautista for the next elections obviously (a senatorial
candidate of âAng Kapatiranâ together with Adrian Sison and Zosimo Paredes). H
eâs a 45-year-old gastroenterologist in the US who came home after 17 years. Y
ou can see from his background that he truly means service. For those who find
him to be a hypocrite for working abroad, do understand heâs a family man who
needs to sustain his family, that he will be able to keep his independence by n
ot relying on public funds to support his family. He helps his countrymen in h
is capacity but itâs just not enough for there are millions of Filipinos. Itâs
a good start in Philippine Politics to have him and his party around.
I urge you to forward/text/inform all your contacts about them. I believe they
only lack exposure thatâs why Iâm doing this. But I canât do it alone so Iâm
appealing to everyoneâs help. If all will inform their contacts about them and
urge them as well to forward, we might hit a million.
We cannot afford to be indifferent now if we want meaningful change. Otherwise
we only have ourselves to blame. BUT TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

BTW, Iâve posted this on the different topics just to be sure.

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