DoJ asked to junk sedition complaint

TWO former opposition senators and a losing senatorial candidate have separately asked government prosecutors to dismiss sedition charges against them.

In separate filings, former Senators Antonio F. Trillanes IV and Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV and senatorial bet Samira Gutoc-Tomawis denied allegations or that they were involved in the so-called destabilization plot against the government of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

Police have charged the three along with Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo and other prominent lawyers and Catholic Church leaders with inciting to sedition, cyber libel, libel, estafa, harboring a criminal and obstruction of justice.

They have been accused of seeking the ouster of President Rodrigo R. Duterte through a series of videos linking him and his family to illegal drugs.

Mr. Trillanes denied charges that he was the source of documents that became the basis of the videos “I had no knowledge and/or participation in the production or propagation” of the videos, he said.

Mr. Aquino also denied having participated at a meeting in where the destabilization plot was hatched.

Ms. Tomawis said the allegations against her were lies. “They are devoid of any merit and deserve scant consideration.”

Ms. Robredo earlier asked the Justice department to order the police to give her copies of all the evidence in the sedition complaint against her and 35 other people.

The opposition leader accused the police of violating her rights by withholding evidence. Ms. Robredo also asked the Justice department to defer the filing of her counter-affidavit pending receipt of the police’s so-called evidence.

Police last month filed a complaint of inciting to sedition, cyberlibel, libel, estafa, harboring a criminal and obstruction of justice against Ms. Robredo and other people whom it accused of circulating a video linking President Duterte.

Also sued was Peter Joemel Advincula, the self-confessed drug dealer who was featured in the videos.

Mr. Advincula had sought legal assistance in filing charges against members of the drug syndicate he formerly belonged to. Later that month, he surrendered to police over estafa charges, and tagged the Liberal Party as behind the propaganda.

The Liberal Party has accused the government of political harassment and persecution, saying the complaint is based on lies.

Human Rights Watch has called on authorities to drop the “preposterous complaint,” saying it is a transparent attempt to harass and silence critics of the government’s bloody war on drugs.

A conviction for incitement to sedition carries a maximum penalty of six years in jail. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas