SOLICITOR General Jose Calida will run to the Court of Appeals to reverse a Makati court’s rejection of the Department of Justice’s motion to arrest Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th over a revived coup d’etat case, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo claimed the Makati court’s ruling was a “pyrrhic victory” for the rebel-turned lawmaker whose 2011 amnesty was voided by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I’ve talked with the solicitor general (Calida) and he said he will not file a motion for reconsideration but will immediately appeal the ruling of the court, with respect to the non-issuance of the warrant of arrest,” Panelo told reporters.
“There are procedural matters decided by the court, which to my mind are erroneous, [like] how it accepted evidence despite the fact that they were all secondary evidence. There are questions that can be properly raised in the Court of Appeals and subsequently, in the Supreme Court,” he added.
The Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148 rejected the Justice department’s petition for an alias arrest warrant and travel ban against Trillanes, which were based on President Duterte’s Proclamation 572 that revoked the amnesty granted to the senator by former president Benigno Aquino 3rd over failed coup attempts in 2003 and 2007.
Trillanes has a separate case for rebellion in Branch 150, but the one in Branch 148 is nonbailable.
The presidential proclamation’s basis for voiding the amnesty is a certification that Trillanes’ amnesty papers were no longer in the possession of the defense department, and that he did not admit his guilt.
In a statement, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra also said prosecutors would file a motion for partial reconsideration of Soriano’s ruling, “only insofar as it found that Senator Trillanes had sufficiently shown that he filed his certificate of amnesty, and that therefore it follows that he also admitted his guilt for the offense of coup d’ etat and recanted all statements inconsistent with such admission of guilt.”
Panelo said Trillanes should not celebrate as the court’s decision declaring Duterte’s proclamation nullifying the amnesty as valid was more important.
“It’s more of a pyrrhic victory because if you will notice, the court decided that the proclamation issued by the President is valid. They are claiming the time that the President does not have the power to void any amnesty. And the court said he has,” he said.
The Palace official however questioned the court’s refusal to issue an arrest warrant due to the supposed “principle of immutability of judgment.”
“I am wondering why because effectively, that would mean it has no jurisdiction over the case. But then again, the court took jurisdiction and in fact, the parties submitted their respective positions and evidence,” Panelo said.
Drilon: SC can’t overturn Makati court findings
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, however, said the Supreme Court could no longer overturn the findings of Makati Judge Soriano.
“Well-settled is the rule that the Supreme Court is not a trier of fact. The Supreme Court cannot assume the role of trier of facts which, by law and jurisprudence, belongs to the lower courts. The case of Senator Trillanes is undeniably a question of fact,” Drilon said in a statement.
“Factual findings of the lower courts are entitled to great weight and respect on appeal, and in fact accorded finality when supported by substantial evidence on the record, as stated in the case of Xentrex Motors, Inc. v Court of Appeals (353 Phil. 258, 262 1998) and in a long line of other cases,” he said.
WITH BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO
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