METRO MANILA (September 11)- Opposition senator Antonio Trillanes IV may be arrested anytime as the Supreme Court (SC) en banc denied his request for a temporary restraining order (TRO).
The Supreme Court (SC) en banc has asked the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to comment in 10 days on Trillanes’ main petition for further deliberation. This, as the Senate minority block, sought an investigation into Proclamation 572, revoking the amnesty granted to the opposition senator in 2011.
Supreme Court Acting Information Chief Maria Victoria Gleoresty Guerra said that it is “appropriate that the Makati Regional Trial Courts (RTCs) should be given leeway in exercising their concurrent jurisdiction to hear and resolve the pleadings/motions filed by the parties as regards the legality of Proclamation No. 572.”
The denial of the petition was primarily based on President Rodrigo Duterte’s acknowledgment that no arrest will be made without a warrant to be issued by the trial courts. Given this, “there is no extreme and urgent necessity for the Court to issue an injunctive relief considering that the respondents have acknowledged Senator Trillanes’ right to due process,” Guerra emphasized.
On September 6, Trillanes field his petition for certiorari with a request for a TRO. The opposition senator is on his 8th day today at the premises of the Senate. – ecz/ NewsLine
