Senate urged to resolve Trillanes issue

Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged the Senate to assert its control over its own affairs by passing the resolution allowing detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes to take part in Senate sessions and other official functions through teleconference and other electronic device.

Pimentel said the resolution should not be viewed as contrary to or in disobedience of a Supreme Court decision promulgated last year which prevented Trillanes from fully discharging his legislative duties, including the exercise of his right to vote on bills and resolutions.

"The Senate resolution on the Trillanes issue and the SC ruling on his petition are two entirely different things and I believe they do not conflict with each other," he said.

He pointed out that Trillanes had petitioned the court to allow him to move out of his detention in Fort Bonifacio to enable him to personally attend the plenary sessions and committee hearings of the Senate. But he will be under guard by security escorts from the Armed Forces of the Philippines while in the premises of the Senate.

However, the high court rejected Trillanes' petition on the ground that he could not be granted this privilege since he is facing coup d'etat and rebellion charges which are non-bailable. The court also expressed concern that allowing him to get out of detention entails security risks that may be difficult for the authorities to cope with.

Saying he does not agree with the SC ruling, Pimentel said it was unfair to both Trillanes and the 11 million voters who elected him into office since the former navy officer is entitled to a presumption of innocence for as long as he has not been convicted by the courts.

"But I am glad that majority of the senators, including those from the administration, are in favor of amending the Senate rules to allow Trillanes to participate in Senate functions through the wonders of high-tech telecommunications," he said.

Pimentel noted that even Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who is identified with the administration is in favor of the resolution to revise the rules to accommodate Trillanes. Only Senators Joker Arroyo, Miriam Defensor Santiago and Richard Gordon have so far objected to the resolution.

He stressed that neither the judiciary nor executive branch should encroach on the independence of the Senate insofar as determining its rules and managing its internal affairs are concerned.

The minority leader invoked Article VI, section l6 (3) of the Constitution which provides that "Each House (of Congress) may determine its rules of proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior and with the concurrence of two-thirds of its Members, suspend or expel a Member."

Pimentel said the judiciary's rebuff of the Trillanes' petition smacks of a double standard if viewed against the lenient treatment it accorded to former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Nur Misuari, who is facing more serious rebellion charges, but who has been granted temporary liberty by allowing him to post bail.

More than a hundred persons were killed during armed clashes between government troops and Moro National Liberation Front rebels in Sulu that ensued after Misuari, MNLF chairman, declared a new uprising against the government during a gathering of his followers in November, 200l.

In comparison, Pimentel said not a single shot was fired and nobody was hurt during the Oakwood mutiny in July, 2003 staged by the renegade Magdalo soldiers led, among others, by Trillanes. Likewise, no gunfire came from the rebel troops during the siege of the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati on November 29, 2007, in which Trillanes was a leading figure.

Pimentel pointed that Trillanes was not even asking the courts for bail but merely requesting permission to be allowed to discharge his official duties as an elected senator of the land.