By DJ Yap
Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines–The Makati court handling the coup d’etat case against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV will hear on Friday his motion appealing the ruling rejecting his request for furlough to attend Senate sessions.
Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 will hear the arguments of both parties on whether he should reverse his decision denying Trillanes leave to perform his Senate duties while under detention.
On Thursday, the prosecution panel led by Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon and State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera filed another pleading opposing Trillanes’ motion, which they said smacked of special treatment.
“Accused Trillanes is not asking for nothing; he is asking for too much…He wants 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 access. He wants to receive members of his staff at all times. He wants access to media at all times,” the prosecutors added.
They said Trillanes’ motion was “uncannily similar” to former Zamboanga del Norte representative Romeo Jalosjos’ “motion to be allowed to discharge mandate as member of the House of Representatives,” after he was elected while in detention 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 “denying 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 functions, increased media access, and a workstation inside his cell.
In denying Trillanes’ motion, Pimentel cited the “Jalosjos doctrine,” which stated: “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 will virtually make him a free man” and would constitute preferential treatment.
Trillanes argued that Jalosjos was charged with various counts of rape and lasciviousness, crimes involving moral turpitude, while he was charged with the offense of coup d’etat, “a charge which is commonly regarded as a political offense.”
He added that Jalosjos was convicted at the time he sought furlough to serve his term, while he is still undergoing trial.
A better comparison, said Trillanes, would be with the cases of former president Joseph Estrada and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Nur Misuari, who were allowed some liberties to perform political functions.
The prosecutors, however, argued that citing the Estrada and Misuari cases “assumes 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 treatment,” they said.
17 Feedbacks on "Judge hears arguments on Trillanes appeal for Senate pass"
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The Believer
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 words): “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 office which he sought for, it is understood that the majority (11 million) who voted 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 wait 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 political question whom people is the judge. Trillanes is asking to perform his duties not for his liberty but for and by the people! Amen.
marr
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 rape case is absolutely wrong in the context morality.
Voting Trillianes to be inside congress is the other way of saying that, “the filipino people are behind him in his quest for truth”.
linda
His senatorialship status should not be considered an excuse for him to be given special consideration.. A special treatment is only accorded to people who truly deserve such. If the court will yield to his requests to be out of detention five days a week he might as well be released from jail and be a free man. The 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 BE IT
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sitsiritsit
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 didn’t actually committed the crime. Gringo was armed to the teeth and ready to take over the government. He was using the PAF planes to stray bullets on soldiers 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.
Kabayan
linda,
Correct … special treatment are only accorded to people with the likes of Garci and Bedol, those who are involved in the Fertilizer scam, the policemen involved in warrantless arrests of innocent citizens, Maj. Mosqueda, Gambling Lords, people in the DFA who doctored passports, people in DFA who gave special treatment to Chinese fishing vessels illegally trawling off our Marine sanctuaries, those who made a midnight executive order so as those who are exposing fraud are the ones jailed instead of the guilty ones, those Trapos who attempted to mangle our Constitution, those who broke up peaceful protest assemblies, those who threatened the media, those who institutionalize cover-ups … to name a few. As you have said SO BE IT.
Arsing
I applaud Senator Trillanes for a very well articulated rationale on why he should be allowed to attend Senate hearings.
It is true that he is not accused of a criminal offense but of a political offense, which shall always be subject to a judgement based on the prevailing political suassion.
Did not the Supreme Court itself rule that GMA’s ascension to the Presidency was 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 Trillanes 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.
OFW in Afghanistan
Trillanes’ case is not criminal. He did not rape a child. He did not kill anyone. 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 about the corruption around him. Gloria Arroyo just dismissed him instead of investigating the truth behind his complaints. He was voted by the people. He should be allowed to attend the sessions and do his responsibilities. This government is shortchanging us in many ways!
april
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. Granting his appeal would cause an added burden to the government. It has to be noted 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 culpability and suffer the consequences as a true gentleman military officer instead of seeking media mileage lambasting the government, the AFP in particular, where he belongs, without any basis at all.
hiram1104
Trillanes case is not criminal. Then what do you call his acts, occupying a 5 Star Hotel, brandishing guns, planting bombs and threatening mayhems if his demands for the President to resign was not met? You call that peaceful demonstration? 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.
linda
Kabayan
OH YEAH I FORGOT……..LAPSED OF MEMORY ANYMORE!!!!!!!
AMEN TO THAT
memory
anonymous
Trillanes violated his oath as an officer in the
military service. While his complaints may be well founded, he should have brought it to the attention of the Inspector General. It appears that he is misguided 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 can not be accomplished by putting someone with the ambition of running the country by force — coup d’etat — he should be tried by court martial, found guilty and serve time in jail.
Kabayan
anonymous,
As it is the Executive Branch and the magkAKAMPIs by their abuses violated their oath to the Filipino people, a far more grave violation indeed.
kim
yah right!!!
pinoy
This is absurd. He is accused not convicted. But they treating him as a convicted person. Does everyone understand the difference. Jalosjos raped a Victim whereas trillanes exposed the dirty laundry of the government. Somebody says here that he is a pain in the Government, that is a praise to Trillanes.
rich
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 nagsasabing wala siyang kasalanan, bakit hindi kayo pumunta sa korte at tumestigo para sa kanya? Hindi tanga si Trillanes para hindi niya maisip na maaring mangyari ito. Alam niyang may kaso siya at alam niyang kailangan niya itong panagutan. Ang kaniyang pagkapanalo bilang senador ay walang kinalaman sa usaping ito.Dahil kung hahayaan nating ang eleksiyon ang magsilbing basehan sa mga kasong kinasasangkutan ng mga kandidato, ay malamang malaya pa sa ngayon ang tulad ni Jalosjos. Di ba’t kahit siya (Jalosjos)ay nasentensiyahan na at nakakulong ay makailang-ulit pa siyang nahalal sa kaniyang distrito?
Doon sa mga nagsasabing dapat ay gawing bayani si Trillanes dahil sa pagsasaad ng baho ng gobyerno ay dapat mag-isip ng mabuti. Dahil kung ito lang basehan 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 kabulukan 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 saloobin 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 lahat at hindi para sa iilan. Kung may problema tayo sa batas ay kailangang gumawa 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 ukol dito. Sa pinili niyang pamamaran ay marami ang napinsala at naapektuhan. Bilang isang opisyal at maginoong tao kailangan niyang sagutin ng tapat ang mga katanungan ukol dito sa harap ng batas at hindi sa paningin ng publiko.
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