CHEERS! THE media has responded quickly to President Duterte’s most recent attempt to silence a critic, exposing the voiding of the grant of amnesty to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV as a blatant political maneuver without legal basis. The fiasco has done exactly the opposite of its objective, gaining support not just for Trillanes, but for other critical voices.
President Rodrigo Duterte issued on August 31 Proclamation 572, which said that former Navy officer and now opposition senator Trillanes did not file an Official Amnesty Application Form and that he “never expressed his guilt for the crimes that were committed on the occasion of the Oakwood Mutiny and Peninsula Manila Hotel Siege.” Because of alleged non-compliance with these minimum requirements, Duterte declared the amnesty granted to Trillanes by former president Benigno Aquino III “void ab initio.”
The president ordered the Department of Justice and Court Martial of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to “pursue all criminal and administrative cases” against Trillanes in relation to his previous mutinies. Duterte also ordered the military and the police to “employ all lawful means” to apprehend the senator.
Read full and original article at https://cmfr-phil.org/media-ethics-responsibility/journalism-review/media-on-trillanes-amnesty-quick-resistance-in-aid-of-democratic-values/
