By Azer Parrocha/PNA
MANILA — Malacañang on Tuesday said that it respects the decision of the Makati court denying the appeal of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV not to open the rebellion charges against him.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark after the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 on Monday upheld its earlier decision to issue a warrant of arrest against the opposition senator over the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007.
“The Palace respects this decision of the trial court in finding sufficient grounds to deny Senator Trillanes’ motion for reconsideration,” Panelo said in a statement.
Panelo said Trillanes “must come to grips with the criminal transgressions he committed” despite being granted liberty after posting a PHP 200,000 bail.
“He may have succeeded in evading his accountability before the law but the law is now catching up on him,” Panelo said.
“Senator Trillanes’ comeuppance is finally knocking at his door, and he can only blame himself for the situation he embroiled himself in for he created his own quagmire,” he added.
Panelo emphasized that Trillanes and others who dared challenge the law that “it is no respecter of anyone regardless of the political and social status status of the violator.”
“What’s happening to him should strike fear in the hearts of those who after being financed by the taxpayers’ money for their education will plot against the government that nurtured them as well as those who use their political power to shield them from accountability as they malign and sow intrigues against persons they dislike even inciting the citizenry to hate duly constituted authorities,” Panelo said.
In an order dated Dec. 18, 2018 which was released to the media Monday, Judge Elmo Alameda denied Trillanes’ plea noting that the senator failed to provide sufficient basis to reverse the earlier ruling of the Makati court.
Alameda said the issues raised by Trillanes “are not novel” and “failed to prove” that he applied for amnesty and admitted guilt over the incident.
