Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) will draw the legal course to address the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling that set aside the revived rebellion case against former Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV.
“I will leave it to the Office of the Solicitor General, as counsel for the government, to determine the appropriate legal remedy, which may include a motion for reconsideration with the Court of Appeals or a petition for review with the Supreme Court,” Guevarra said.
“I have not read the decision. But I know that the issues are exclusively jurisdictional in character,” he said.
The rebellion case against Trillanes had been dismissed by the Makati City regional trial court (RTC) in 2011 when then President Benigno S. Aquino III issued Proclamation No. 75 that granted amnesty in various uprisings, one of them the Manila Peninsula siege.
But President Duterte revoked the amnesty in 2018. In the same year, Judge Elmo M. Alameda granted the omnibus motion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue a hold departure order (HDO) and arrest warrant against the former lawmaker thereby reviving the rebellion case.
Trillanes elevated the case to the CA which, last March 1, granted his petition.