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MANILA – The Philippines Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to intervene in an attempt by President Rodrigo Duterte to apprehend the arrest of his most outspoken critic, addressing two lower courts to test judicial independence in an ally American.
The lower courts are to decide this week whether an arrest warrant should be issued against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who has fled to his office for a week to avoid being detained. He says the leader of the strongman in the Philippines is trying to silence him.
The case has thrown the courts and the armed forces of 100 million people in this country to the test of their institutional independence vis-à-vis Mr. Duterte, who has imposed an authoritarian style since taking office there two years.
Mr. Duterte canceled a national speech on Tuesday without explanation after the Supreme Court issued its decision, but in a television interview with his main legal adviser, he defended his actions and questioned an amnesty granted in 2011 by Benigno Aquino II .Trillanes on his role in a failed coup d'état
Mr. Trillanes said he was pleased with the Supreme Court's decision, which reduced the chances that he would be arrested without a warrant. He said that the Supreme Court had been "heavily suspected of bias towards the Duterte administration" but that this decision shows "a semblance of independence".
Last week, Mr. Duterte issued a unilateral proclamation to cancel the amnesty granted to Mr. Trillanes, claiming that the documents had been improperly filed and that Mr. Trillanes had not sufficiently acknowledged his guilt.
Mr. Duterte ordered the army and the police to use all legal means to arrest Mr. Trillanes, a senator since 2007, who particularly angered Mr. Duterte with vocal criticism and allegations of corruption. of the president and members of his family.
Dozens of soldiers and police tried to detain him last week, but the president of the organization refused them entry. Mr. Trillanes has since been living in his Senate office, eating to eat and sleeping on a couch. A few dozen protesters mounted a vigil outside and said they would ask more people to face the police if a sudden arrest attempt was made.
In its decision, the Supreme Court declared that Mr Trillanes' request for an injunction and ban to temporarily cancel the order to arrest him was unnecessary because the government and the army have since declared that they would follow due process and wait for a judicial warrant.
Attention is now focused on the two trial courts that heard charges of rebellion and coup against Mr. Trillanes in 2003 and 2007 before their revocation by amnesty.
Mr. Duterte's critics say he circumvented the regular procedures and manipulated independent institutions. He will have appointed up to eight Supreme Court justices of 15 members by the end of the year.
The president supported the ouster this year of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who had criticized her martial law statement in a part of the troubled south of the Philippines and for leading an anti-arson campaign in which police had killed thousands of people.
Write to Jake Maxwell Watts at [email protected]
