|
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Gov't blocks Trillanes bid to attend Senate sessions
MANILA -- Government prosecutors on Monday opposed a motion filed by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV asking the court to allow him to attend Senate sessions.
The Department of Justice panel prosecuting a coup case against Trillanes said his upgraded status has not erased the charges against him.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007 Coverage
View here the list of local winners
The prosecutors, led by Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon, further asked Makati City Regional Trial Court Judge Oscar Pimentel not to allow Trillanes to set up a satellite office, with a computer and telephone lines, inside his detention cell.
Trillanes, in his omnibus motion, asked that he be allowed to admit visitors inside his working place and to be allowed to attend all official functions of the Senate so he could "serve the sovereign people."
Prosecutors said the requests, if granted, "smack of special privilege and preferential treatment for one accused of a capital offense."
"He needlessly stresses his electoral victory during the May 14, 2007 elections and implies that this should give him preferential treatment in detention and in these proceedings. The DOJ, as the prosecuting arm of the government, its shield and sword of law and order, represents not only the 11,138,067 voters who voted for him, but the People of the Philippines, with all its 85 million citizens, and counting," said Fadullon.
Prosecutors pointed out that Trillanes was facing a non-bailable offense and should not be "furloughing from his place of detention at the Marine brig" that would render a senator "above and beyond the pale of the law."
"While the prosecution recognizes his status as senator of the Republic, he (Trillanes) should also acknowledge that his new status will not and should not affect the proceedings in this case. These requests are attempts to render nugatory the restrictions imposed on him by Section 7 of the Rule 114 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure," prosecutors stated.
Fadullon further said the prosecution, defense, and Makati City court have already reached a consensus on June 7, 2004 that media access to Trillanes should cease after his proclamation by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
He further said the Marine brig in Fort Bonifacio is a high-security detention facility, not a civilian government office where Senate staff and assistants, who are not detainees, can come and go or hold office.
"Being a Marine facility, it is likewise doubtful if telephone communications and working furniture can be so casually arranged for just one detention prisoner and not for other detention prisoners," said the justice department.
Citing a decision in the case of former Zamboanga del Norte congressmen Romeo Jalosjos, prosecutors said the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that "Congress continues to function well in the physical absence of one or a few of its members."
"The functions and duties of the office are not substantial distinctions which lift him from the class of prisoners interrupted in their freedom and restricted in liberty and movement. Lawful arrest and confinement are germane to the purpose of the law and apply to those belonging to the same class," prosecutors said, quoted the SC.
Earlier, prosecutors said congressional immunity would not apply to Trillanes because he is facing a coup charge, a heinous offense punishable by life imprisonment.
Immunity, the prosecutor said, could only be granted to persons whose offense is punishable by imprisonment of not more than six years.
Fadullon said Trillanes has to seek court permission to be able to attend any Senate activities or functions, subject to several conditions.
Among the conditions are that he will inform the court when he will leave his detention cell to attend Senate hearings and render report on the matter; that adequate security will be provided to him; and that he will not talk about the case to the media.
Trillanes and some 30 other junior officers, collectively called the Magdalo group, stood charged before the Makati RTC for the short-lived mutiny on July 27, 2003 in a bid to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from power. (ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (July 3, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Pampanga guv forms task force to handle quarry