DAVAO CITY – President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Saturday, September 8, said he has nothing to do with the order revoking the amnesty granted to Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV resulting to a mandate for his arrest.
The Chief Executive said in a media interview following his arrival at the Davao International Airport from his official visits to the State of Israel and Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan that the revocation of the amnesty granted to Senator Trillanes was based on the “research” made by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
“’Pag sinabi ng SolGen na may mali and this has to be corrected, I cannot refuse. He is the government lawyer. I cannot insist lalo na in view of the fact it was already recorded as a public paper. So kung ano ‘yang sinabi niya doon, ‘yun ang paniwalaan ko,” he said.
President Duterte also cited Senator Trillanes’ “failure to comply” with the requirements of requesting for amnesty. “‘Yan, failure to comply. It must be in affidavit form, and you narrate kung anong kasalanan mo,” he said.
Duterte said that for a pardon or amnesty to be granted, one has to declare guilt in a narrative form.
“Eh wala eh. ‘Yung sa application niya TRO sa Supreme Court, nagbigay siya ng sample ng affidavit. You have to swear and you have to place narratives saan ka, anong ginawa mo, kung bakit kailangan kang patawarin,” he said.
“Well, in the first place, ang amnesty allowing his release was void. Therefore, his getting out of custody was also void. Walang basis eh. Kasi ‘yung amnesty was defective…fatally flawed. Nothing valid would come out from a void document,” he added.
The President further noted that complying with the said requirements has to undergo an administrative process in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
In the same interview, President Duterte said that only the President of the Philippines has the power to pardon and grant amnesty with the concurrence of Congress.
“It cannot be delegated to anybody else. Constitutional mandate ‘yan. The President has the power to grant pardon and amnesty with the concurrence of Congress,” he said.
The President also said that he does not want the military and police to fight with each other in his time, saying that he would instead ask the military what they need.
“Hindi ko ipapasubo ‘tong mga ‘to na magpatayan. Kasi Armed Forces pati police…magkaharap ‘yan, hindi naman ako. So why would I sacrifice the lives of people, my own countrymen?”
“Right at the beginning of my term as President, I’ve always stressed to the uniformed people of our government… You should focus your loyalty to the flag of the Philippines and the Constitution,” he said. ###PND
