Senate passes resolution asking the Supreme Court
to allow Trillanes to attend sessions

The Senate passed a resolution Monday urging the Supreme Court to permit Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to exercise his legislative duties by allowing him to attend and participate in the sessions and other functions of the Senate, "in accordance with the mandate clearly bestowed upon him by the people who voted for him during the May 2007 National and Local Elections".

A Makati court recently junked the petition of the detained senator, asking the courts to allow him to attend the opening session of the 15th Congress last July 26.

Trillanes, who has already posted bail before the Makati RTC Branch 148, has been detention since in 2007 in connection with the Manila Peninsula Hotel stand-off on the same year, with the court charging him with rebellion.

"This resolution basically reflects the sense of the Senate on the need for Senator Trillanes to perform his duties as a senator," Enrile said.

"Senator Trillanes was elected as a Senator with 11,189,671 votes despite the fact that he was under detention and pending the resolution of the charge against him for an attempted coup d' etat in 2007. This is a clear indication and the unmistakable mandate of the electorate for him to serve as a member of the Senate," the resolution said.

"In accordance with International Law, the offenses with which Trillanes is charged are political offenses, thus classifying him as a political prisoner. The resolution urges the courts to respect the Inter-Parliamentary Union's (IPU) recommendation for the Philippine government to either release Senator Trillanes, pending trial of his cases, and/or allow him to attend Senate sessions and to grant him any such facilities as to enable him to exercise his mandate in a meaningful way," the resolution said.

"The Senate takes note of the IPU's recommendation to grant our colleague temporary liberty. However, we must also respect our own judicial system. That is why we can only 'express our sentiments' as embodied in the resolution we passed," Enrile said.

"We are appealing to the courts, through this resolution, to allow Senator Trillanes to be temporarily placed under our custody during session. He will be guarded by the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-arms (OSAA) at all times," the resolution further said.

The resolution also urges the Judiciary to allow the temporary transfer of the custody of Senator Trillanes from the Philippine National Police to the Senate, particularly the OSAA, while the session is on going, saying that the OSAA "shall ensure the attendance of Trillanes in trial, hearings and all proceedings of the cases filed against him, unless otherwise excused by the courts.

* press release by Public Relations and Information Bureau (PRIB)