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The second and final request for an alias warrant against Senator Trillanes is filed Friday afternoon at the 150 branch of the CRT Makati.
REQUESTS FROM WARRANTS. Senator Antonio Trillanes is still locked up in his Senate office as two Makati courts resolve arrest warrants against him. Photo by Angie de Silva / Rappler
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed its second motion for an arrest warrant against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Friday, Sept. 7, at the 150th district of Makati Regional Court.
The 150th Division, led by Judge Elmo Alameda, has already dealt with charges of rebelling against Trillanes over the Manila Peninsula seat in 2007.
On September 7, 2011, Alameda dismissed the charges against Trillanes under the amnesty that had been granted to him by former president Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.
Two days earlier, on September 4, the Department of Justice filed a first motion to obtain a loan warrant against Trillanes at Branch 148, now headed by Judge Andres Bartolome Soriano.
Branch 148, then under the orders of Judge Oscar Pimentel, has acquitted himself of coup charges against Trillanes for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny. Pimentel's successor, Judge Ma. Rita Bascos Sarabia rejected the charges on 21 September 2011 under the Amnesty Law.
The DOJ believes that with President Rodrigo Duterte canceling Trillanes' amnesty, he is justified in asking the two courts to reopen the cases and issue alias warrants. An alias warrant is a mandate reissued without the need for a new determination of the probable cause.
Trillanes, along with the Philippine Bar Association or the IBP, said the two Makati courts had long since lost the right to reopen the case because the dismissals were final and binding.
Judge Soriano of Branch 148 decided to hear the request for a warrant on September 13, refuting the Department of Justice's request to issue an application for interim relief.
At the time of writing, no action has yet been conducted by Judge Alameda of Branch 150.
Asked why the DOJ late filed the petition to the 150th Division, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said:wala naman (without reason)."
On Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Defense and the palace changed their tone. By saying that Trillanes can be stopped by a court martial, both agencies now say that civil courts must be respected. – Rappler.com
