Trillanes leaves Senate after staying for 25 days
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has returned to his home on Saturday, more than three weeks after he holed up at the Senate following the release of a presidential proclamation voiding his amnesty.
"It is a huge relief that I saw my family and my house," said Trillanes, who was welcomed by his wife, two children and Magdalo Partylist Rep. Gary Alejano.
"I thank you all for being with me," added Trillanes. "This completes the political miracles we have seen. This has been like a roller-coaster."
" On Thursday and Friday, my supporters were worried that the forces of darkness will win. But we have arrived and God's plans for me have changed," he said.
Trillanes was referring to the decision of a Makati judge on Friday not to issue any ruling on the justice department's very urgent motion to issue an arrest warrant and a hold departure order on Trillanes. Hearings have been set for October 5.
`On September 25, another Makati court issued an arrest warrant and hold departure order on Trillanes, Police served the warrant and brought Trillanes to court, which set a P200,000 bail. Trillanes posted bail and returned to the Senate.
Trillanes had stayed in the Senate for 25 days after President Rodrigo Duterte released Proclamation No 2018 on August 31, voiding from the start his amnesty granted by President Benigno Aquino III in 2010.
Proclamation No. 572 said Trillanes never expressed his guilt for the crimes that he committed on the occasion of the July 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and November 2007 Peninsula Manila Hotel siege when he was a lieutenant senior grade in the Philippine Navy.
It also cited Trillanes' failure to apply for amnesty.
"Despite former LTSG (Lieutenant Senior Grade) Trillanes IV's failure to apply for amnesty and refusal to admit his guilt, his name was nonetheless included among those granted amnesty pursuant to DND (Department of National Defense) Ad Hoc Committee Resolution No. 2 approved by former Secretary of National Defense Voltaire T. Gazmin," the Proclamation read.
Since Trillanes failed to comply with the "minimum requirements to qualify under the Amnesty Proclamation," it said that the grant of amnesty to him was declared as "void ab initio," which means void from the beginning. DMS
