Court orders arrest of ex-Senator Trillanes
A QUEZON City court has ordered the arrest of a former senator critical of President Rodrigo R. Duterte after he was indicted for inciting to sedition last month.
Former Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV and 10 co-accused may post a P10,000 bail, according to the Metropolitan trial court.
The Justice department last month indicted Mr. Trillanes along with 10 other people including for allegedly circulating a series of videos accusing President Rodrigo R. Duterte and his family of being in the illegal drug trade.
It dismissed the sedition, inciting to sedition, cyberlibel, libel, estafa and obstruction of justice complaint against all 31 respondents, including Mr. Trillanes, Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo, detained Senator Leila M. De Lima, former Senator Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV, and other opposition candidates during the midterm elections.
Human Rights Watch earlier said authorities should drop the “preposterous complaint” against opposition politicians, religious leaders and human rights advocates.
It said the case was a “transparent attempt to harass and silence critics” of Mr. Duterte’s bloody drug war. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas