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MANILA, Philippines – The documents related to amnesty granted to other Magdalo soldiers who mutineed against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will be reviewed, said Malacañang on Tuesday, September 4.
“We will review the records and we will determine who else did not comply,” said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a press briefing in Jerusalem. (READ: LIST: Who’s been granted amnesty?)
The declaration was made amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s voiding of the amnesty granted to former mutineer Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on the grounds that he supposedly failed to apply for amnesty and did not admit guilt.
“Titingnan natin kung ilan talaga iyang dapat at (We will see how many need to be reviewed and) it’s up to the President to also decide kung ano ang mangyari diyan (what will happen to them),” he added.
However, Roque was confident that “many of them complied.”
Three other former mutineers given amnesty by President Benigno Aquino III are currently in government, and two of them are Duterte appointees.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Danilo Lim and Office of Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Nicanor Faeldon are presidential appointees.
Gary Alejano represents the Magdalo Party in the House of Representatives.
There are other Magdalo members in Duterte’s government. Gerardo Gambala and Milo Maestrecampo, now in the Department of Transportation, were among the mutineers who were convicted and sentenced but were eventually pardoned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Duterte appointed Gambala director of the Office of Transportation Security under the Department of Transportation. Maestrecampo was named assistant director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), also under the DOTr.
Back when they were Bureau of Customs officials, the two were implicated in the smuggling of P6.4-billion shabu from China. It was after the Congress hearings on the controversy when Duterte transferred them to the DOTr.
Malacañang had said then that Duterte’s reappointment of the former mutineers showed he continued to have trust and confidence in them, despite the accusations of involvement in drug trafficking.
Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano has decried Duterte’s voiding of Trillanes’ amnesty as “political persecution.” Malacañang has denied this, saying Duterte was merely upholding the rule of law.
Trillanes has been a thorn in Duterte’s side since the 2016 presidential campaign when he, then a vice presidential candidate, exposed alleged hidden bank accounts of Duterte and some of his family members.
The opposition senator was also leading a hearing on the government contracts entered into by Solicitor General Jose Calida’s family business. It was Calida, said the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who had asked them to check if Trillanes’ amnesty application was missing. The AFP’s certification that the document was “not available” in their records was one of the grounds Duterte cited for voiding the amnesty. – Rappler.com
Follow the developments here:
- Disobey Duterte’s ‘illegal orders,’ Alejano asks AFP, PNP
- Makati court can’t just reopen Trillanes case – IBP
- Trillanes amnesty application could’ve been ‘maliciously concealed’
- No warrant for now: Court gives Trillanes chance to challenge arrest request
- Military can arrest Trillanes without warrant – DND
- Robredo: Opposition coalition stands with Trillanes
- Makati court can tackle validity of voiding Trillanes amnesty
- DND has another explanation for Trillanes’ missing amnesty papers
- Senate ‘militarization’? Senators hit AFP, PNP presence in compound
- Trillanes says DND may be charged for ‘losing’ his amnesty application
- DOCUMENTS: DND confirms Trillanes applied for amnesty
- Jail time now also possible for former mutineers turned Duterte appointees
- House called to denounce ‘unlawful’ Trillanes amnesty revocation
- PNP: We sent CIDG to ensure Trillanes’ ‘legal’ arrest
- DOJ to seek warrant vs Trillanes in another court ‘but court martial faster’
- [WRAP] Day 2: Trillanes gets relief from court, DOJ seeks options
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