By Benjamin Pulta with reports from Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA
MANILA — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday said the Bureau of Immigration (BI) will not prevent Senator Antonio Trillanes IV from traveling abroad if no travel ban is handed down by the courts against him.
“My instruction to the Bureau of Immigration is clear. If there is no HDO (hold departure order) issued by any court, let Sen. Trillanes travel abroad. The matter of getting the Davao court’s permission to travel is between Sen. Trillanes and the court, if he travels without court permission, that is his own lookout.” Guevarra told reporters.
Guevarra earlier said the Davao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has given Trillanes five days from last Friday to file his comment or opposition, noting that the court is not expected to issue an HDO until it has received and evaluated Trillanes’ comment.
On Sunday, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief, Director Guillermo Eleazar earlier said they have already secured a copy of the arrest warrant against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in connection with the libel cases filed by presidential son and former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and his brother-in-law Manases Carpio.
Davao City RTC Branch 54 Judge Melinda Alconcel-Dayanghirang issued four warrants of arrest and fixed the bail for Trillanes at PHP24,000 for each case.
The court ordered law enforcement authorities to arrest Trillanes within 10 days after they receive the order, which was dated December 7.
On Monday, Trillanes arrived at the sala of Judge Rowena Nieves Tan of the Pasay City RTC Branch 118 at around 10:30 a.m. and posted bail worth PHP96,000 for four counts of libel.
Eleazar said that upon the request of Trillanes, Southern Police District (SPD) director, Senior Supt. Eliseo Cruz arrived at the court to attend to the voluntary surrender of the senator before the Court.
“Senior Supt. Cruz appeared at the Court to provide the police component of the voluntary surrender of Senator Trillanes before the Court, such as the regular fingerprinting and booking processes,” Eleazar said in statement sent to reporters.
“In this instance however, the Court decided to waive the booking processes. Senator Trillanes posted bail and an Order Lifting Warrant of Arrest was issued by the Court,” the NCRPO chief added.
Paolo filed three libel cases and Carpio pressed one libel charge against Trillanes over the latter’s alleged derogatory statements against them.
Trillanes dragged Paolo and Carpio’s name into the PHP6.4-billion shabu smuggling issue and the Uber franchise application.
Trillanes had alleged on a dyAB Cebu radio interview that Paolo and Carpio connived with a Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board official in Central Visayas in demanding a bribe in return for the approval of an Uber franchise.
Paolo and Carpio have denied both allegations. The two also appeared before a Senate inquiry where they strongly denied the senator’s accusations.
