THE Department of Justice (DOJ) will file a motion for reconsideration to question a Makati court's refusal to order the arrest of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and revive the coup d' etat charges against the senator.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday, October 23, said he and Solicitor General Jose Calida have agreed to file a motion for reconsideration before the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148 first.
"Nag-usap na kami (ni SolGen). We agreed to file a motion for partial reconsideration first with the RTC," Guevarra said in a text message Tuesday night.
Guevarra was responding to a question about Calida's plan, as announced by Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo in a press conference Tuesday noon, to file a petition before the Court of Appeals (CA) questioning the decision of Makati RTC Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano.
In a previous text message to reporters earlier Tuesday, Guevarra said the DOJ will question only the court's findings that Trillanes had filed his amnesty application and therefore had admitted guilt to the coup d' etat case filed against him in relation to the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003.
The DOJ had asked the court to order the rearrest of Trillanes following the issuance of Proclamation No. 572, which declared as void ab initio the amnesty granted to the senator in 2011.
Proclamation 572, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on August 31 but made public on September 4, also ordered the courts and the Armed Forces Court Martial to revive the cases against Trillanes.
The Makati RTC Branch 148 on Monday, October 22 ruled in favor of Trillanes, saying the coup d' etat case against the senator has been dismissed and the dismissal has become final and executory.
The court ruling, however, recognized the validity of Proclamation 572, but said that it does not encroach on the constitutional power of the judiciary.
Trillanes, one of the most vocal critics of President Duterte, is a former Navy officer who took part in the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 and Manila Peninsula Siege in 2007.
Both uprisings were staged against the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
Trillanes and his fellow former dissident soldiers were granted amnesty by the Benigno Aquino III administration in 2011. (SunStar Philippines)