Trillanes re ICC withdrawal : Duterte is “a man in panic”

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is on the attack mode again.

Last week  Pasay prosecutor Joahna Gabatino-Lim believed there is enough pieces of evidence to charge Senator Antonio Trillanes for a violation of Article 142 of the Revised Penal Code- Inciting to Sedition. The state prosecutor took note of his privilege speech last October 2017 where in that speech he said soldiers should shoot the President using a M-60 machine gun for his alleged hidden wealth.

He said that he is ready to face the charges unlike the Philippine President, his actual statement was ““Hindi gaya ni Duterte na duwag humarap sa kaso;  haharapin ko ito.”  *

Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (photo credit CNN Phils)

In an exclusive interview with CNN Philippine show ‘The Source’  the senator has suggested that he will ask the Supreme Court to look into the legality done by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s acrion in withdrawing the country’s membership from the International Criminal Court.

When asked when will he invoke the wisdom of the Supreme Court he just said “ at an appropriate time.”

Trillanes also intimated that there are other senators who are “seriously considering” filing a Senate resolution and petition before the Supreme Court to question the President’s decision to opt out from the Rome Statute.

Earlier, Senate President Koko Pimentel and Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo made a statement that as regard to the Philippines act of withdrawing from the ICC there is no need to go through Senate.

Trillanes disagreed to this saying the decision to withdraw is just as important as entering into a treaty."

This view is backed by 14 other senators who filed Resolution No. 289 in February 2017, Trillanes said. The resolution states the termination of or withdrawal from any treaty or international agreement should be effective only after Senate concurrence.

Trillanes and his "Mistah" from the Philippine Military Academy Magdalo Party-list Representative Gary Alejano, filed a communication against President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the International Criminal Court last year, the communication was meant complement the one earlier filed by lawyer Jude Sabio. *

‘PRRD in panic’

In opting out of the Rome Statute, Duterte is acting like “a man in panic,” Trillanes said.

He also accused the President of trying to evade accountability.

The opposition senator is confident there is a strong case against the Duterte administration. "I'm confident because 20,000 na 'yung namatay and somebody needs to be accountable for that."

In the communication filed before the ICC,  Sabio accused President Duterte of "repeatedly, unchangingly, and continuously" committing mass murder. He said 1,400 individuals were killed by the so-called Davao Death Squad under the leadership of then Mayor Duterte, and 7,000 individuals were killed in the government's war on drugs since Duterte took office.

Report from CNN Phils