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President Rodrigo Duterte's harshest critic at Congress was arrested on Tuesday after the president revoked his 2011 amnesty for a failed coup attempt and re-launched the rebellion charges.
Senator Antonio Trillanes left the Senate where he fled for weeks and was taken by police to his headquarters in Makati City, where his fingerprints and photos were taken. After being booked by the police, Trillanes was escorted to a nearby court and was released on bail, followed by many journalists.
"Democracy has lost today," Trillanes told reporters shortly before his arrest. "Darkness and evil have prevailed in our country. All that will happen in the future will be in the hands of the Filipino people.
Known for his attacks on his detractors, Duterte has long expressed his anger at Trillanes, who accuses him of widespread corruption, involvement in illicit drugs and extrajudicial executions in a drug crackdown that has left thousands since he took office. 2016. Duterte denied the allegations.
Trillanes, a former naval officer, has been jailed for more than seven years for taking part in at least three uprisings in the military, including a mutiny in 2003 against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. bombs and supported an upscale residential building.
After being amnestied under Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, Trillanes asked two Philippine courts to reject the rebellion and coup cases, allowing him to run for office afterwards.
Duterte said he had canceled the Trillanes amnesty last month because the senator had not filed a formal amnesty application and acknowledged his guilt. Trillanes strongly denied the president's claims and provided DFO reports and documents to counter Duterte's claims.
The Ministry of Justice has asked two courts to issue arrest warrants against Trillanes and resume criminal proceedings against him. One of the courts issued a warrant for arrest on Tuesday.
In addition to the charges of rebellion and coup d'état brought before both courts, Duterte also ordered the army to resume an investigation into the role of the senator in mutinies.
Legal experts and the Philippine Bar Association, the largest group of lawyers in the country, have expressed concern over the legal measures taken against Trillanes for offenses set aside by the 2011 Amnesty.
The group of lawyers stated that this measure "circumvented the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy" or that a person had to answer twice for the same offense.
Duterte also accused Trillanes, without providing evidence, of having plotted with other opposition politicians, including the Liberal Party and leftist groups, to oust him. Trillanes and opposition groups have called this statement a lie and have asked Mr. Duterte to focus on fighting poverty, inflation, rice shortages, traffic jams and the decline in value of the peso.
Human Rights Watch said the arrest of Trillanes "is part of the persecution of critics of the Duterte administration, the latest in the bitter campaign to silence those who dared to challenge the murderous deadly war of the president."
Under the presidency of Duterte, another opposition senator was jailed for drug trafficking, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was ousted by other judges and foreign critics, including an Australian nun , were prevented from entering the Philippines or threatened with deportation.
