ENRILE BUCKS JOKER:

‘Trillanes not a free man under Senate custody’

By Angie M. Rosales

08/24/2010

Detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV will not be walking out of his cell a “free man” once the Senate’s bid to put him under its custody is granted, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday.

Enrile emphasized this as he defended the filing of Senate Resolution 84 signed by him and 15 other senators which was finally adopted in plenary yesterday after some revisions were made on its content.

Sen. Joker Arroyo was the lone dissenter to the resolution that is seeking the temporary transfer of custody of Trillanes to the upper chamber, in effect allowing him to attend and participate in the plenary proceedings and perform other official functions of his as a senator.

Sen. Arroyo earlier blocked the resolution’s approval as he cautioned colleagues over its implication, that of the Senate directly intervening with the court’s handling of Trillanes’ case.

During the continuation of the debates on the matter yesterday, Sen. Arroyo insisted that the resolution goes against the ruling that was already made by the Supreme Court (SC) when petitions for bail were filed by Trillanes earlier.

Quoting its ruling on Trillanes’ plea, Sen. Arroyo said the high court had cited its own decision on a similar case, saying that “allowing the accused-appellant (Trillanes) to attend congressional sessions and committee meetings will virtually make him a free man with the privileges appurtenant to his position. Such an aberrant situation not only elevates accused-appellant’s status to that of a special case, it also would be a mockery of the purposes of the correction system.”

Sen. Arroyo initially commended Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III for “revising” and “refining” the original resolution, which he had protested against.

“The resolution now before us is a big improvement from the original resolution. Yet for my part, it does not meet the standards or the doctrine laid down by the SC in June 2008,” he said.

He moreover said even though he sympathizes with Trillanes, his “real problem“ is that if the former Navy officer is granted bail the apparent “privilege gap” between the poor and the influential will be made prominent again.

“...that is actually what the SC has said in its decision on Trillanes’ motion. I’m disturbed by that. From a human rights point of view, that if you are poor you cannot get consideration from our courts. But privileged people, if you are a senator, then you can ask because what? I can claim I’ve been elected, I have to do service because X-million of Filipinos voted for me, ergo, I have to perform my duty in accordance with the mandate of the people,” he elucidated.

Sen. Arroyo said there was at least a need to raise questions on the move to get Trillanes out of jail to allow him to perform his senatorial duties, again cautioning his colleagues that they may make a mockery of the equal protection law.

“The popular reaction of the people to President Aquino’s statements that there will be no wang wang (use of sirens) for him…the very, very intent has been accepted by the people. That is equal protection law. Not even a President can claim a certain privilege which an ordinary person cannot claim. So, I will object to this,” he said.

But Enrile debunked Sen. Arroyo’s statements and stated an assurance at the same time that Trillanes will not become a free man once he is taken by the Senate under its wing.

“With due respect to the decision of the SC and the opinion of my venerable colleague, Sen. Arroyo, I’d like to state on record the fact that no freedom will be given to Trillanes. He is still under the custody of the courts.

“He is going to be confined within the confines of this Senate, under the control of the sergeant-at-arms. He will still be a prisoner, only that for purposes of his duties as a senator, elected by the Filipino people, to perform that job after he was charged, we are going to bring him here in the Senate if the court will allow it so that he can join in the performance of duties in the Senate.

“And after he does his job here, he will not go anywhere else. He cannot eat in a restaurant, he cannot even eat in that lounge that we have, he will have to go back to his cell under the custody of the sergeant-at-arms. He is not a free man in any sense...He is still in every sense a prisoner,” Enrile stressed.

The Senate chief also maintained that Trillanes should not be incarcerated because he has not been convicted of the crime he is accused of.

“He is still presumed innocent until the prosecuting officers of the government can prove beyond reasonable doubt that indeed Trillanes is liable to be punished for the crime for which he was charged. And so therefore, it is the sense of this representation that Trillanes is being transferred only from one point of area of confinement to another,” he said.

“And with due respect to the SC, I think they have not seen the reality of what legislative activities mean. In an ordinary case maybe their claim is true but in the case of the legislator like us, we’re only 24 here, one position is vacant, two are not doing any work at the moment because the law is after them. There are only 21 senators. We are overworked here. And we want to finish many problems that are confronting us here as legislators not for ourselves but for our country. That is why this representation tries to participate in seeing to it that Trillanes will perform his job here for which he is being paid by the sovereign people of this country,” he concluded.

Also yesterday, the wrangling over the seats in the Commission on Appointments (CA) was finally settled after Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. gave up his seat in favor of Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano. With that, Cayetano and Sen. Arroyo will be representing the minority bloc in the CA.

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