Lapses of Aquino admin voided amnesty given Trillanes, et al —Duterte

Lapses made by the Aquino administration rendered the amnesty given to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and other former rebel soldiers void, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday.

In a nationally televised exchange with chief presidential legal counsel Secretary Salvador Panelo, Duterte said the lapses in the grant of amnesty in 2011 could not be cured.

"Kapag mali, hindi talaga ma-correct yan. One of the mistakes of Aquino administration was to extend the amnesty but the procedure was totally wrong in the sense that he just issued the proclamation, no particular names. It was a motherhood statement to cover the individual and any of the acts of the mutineers, Duterte said.

"The problem is after recommending, at the end of the narration, the narratives there, [then Defense Secretary Voltaire] Gazmin signed the amnesty itself," he added.

"It is not possible to do that. Why? An act of pardon or amnesty is an act of state. It cannot be delegated to anybody but to the person of the President himself," Duterte said.

Trillanes and the other Magdalo soldiers were able to avail of amnesty by virtue of Proclamation 75 issued by Aquino in November 2010.

Aquino’s amnesty proclamation, which covered the actions meant to overthrow the Arroyo regime including the Oakwood Mutiny, Marines Standoff and Manila Peninsula Siege, was then sent to Congress which subsequently gave its concurrence.

Malacañang has said Gazmin may be charged and face jail time for usurpation of authority because it was him instead of then  Aquino who approved the amnesty applications in 2011.

Duterte has drawn criticism after he signed on August 31 Proclamation 572, which declared the amnesty given by the Aquino administration to Trillanes void from the start because the lawmaker had missed two requirements: an official application and an express admission of guilt for his involvement in the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 and Manila Peninsula Siege in 2007.

The proclamation also ordered the Department of Justice to resume pursuing coup d 'etat and rebellion charges against Trillanes, and instructed the military and police to collar the senator through lawful means.

Meanwhile, Duterte maintained that he has not sent someone to jail for opposing his administration, saying he was giving critics "the time of their lives to just talk."

Duterte's fiercest critics include Trillanes and Senator Leila de Lima who is currently detained on allegations she allowed the illegal drug trade to proliferate inside the New Bilibid Prison when she was Justice secretary in exchange for funds for her senatorial campaign in 2016.

She has repeatedly denied the accusation.

"I have yet to sign anything ordering the arrest or silencing of anybody in government, especially the critics," Duterte said.

"The fact that they are doing it everyday. It only goes to show that I am giving them the time of their lives to just talk and talk and talk. It's an invented phrase kasi 'yung silencing."—NB, GMA News