SOLICITOR-GENERAL Jose C. Calida, in a statement on Thursday, threatened to file a libel case against opposition Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV unless the senator apologizes for claiming that Mr. Calida “stole” his amnesty application form at the Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters.
Mr. Trillanes’s amnesty in 2011 was revoked last month by President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s Proclamation No. 572, which claimed, among others, that Mr. Trillanes did not file an Official Amnesty Application Form and did not acknowledge guilt for the crimes of rebellion and coup d’etat in connection with the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and 2007 Mania Peninsula Siege.
In his statement, Mr. Calida said “The putschist Mr. Trillanes ranted to the media yesterday that I ‘stole’ his amnesty application document. In effect, Mr. Trillanes maliciously branded me as a thief, which I’m not.”
“Unless Mr. Trillanes expresses his sincere apology for calling me a thief, I shall be constrained to file a criminal case for libel plus damages against him,” Mr. Calida also said.
In a press briefing on Sept. 26, Mr. Trillanes claimed that Mr. Calida either kept or destroyed his amnesty application form.
“Maliwanag dito, kung meron mang nagtago o nagsira ng mga application documents ko, itong si Mr. Calida. Tapos gagamitin nila ‘yan to revoke my amnesty (It is clear, if there is someone who kept or destroyed my application documents, it is Mr. Calida. Then they will use that to revoke my amnesty),” he said.
Mr. Calida, in his statement, said, “I have never entered the offices of the J1 or the Personnel Division of the AFP at Camp Aguinaldo so how could I ‘steal’ documents kept there?”
He was referring to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, whose custodian, Lt. Col. Thea Joan N. Andrade, “issued a Certification that there is no available copy of Trillanes’ application for amnesty,” Mr. Calida said.
Mr. Duterte as well as Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana had earlier cited Mr. Calida for doing “research” on Mr. Trillanes.
Mr. Trillanes, for his part, said Mr. Calida is “in no position to demand anything.”
“Alam niya ang katotohanan (He knows the truth). Alam ng buong Pilipinas, at this point, ang katotohanan. At ganun na lang ‘yun. (The whole Philippines, at this point, knows the truth. That’s it.) Kung ano man ang plano niyang gawin (Whatever he plans to do), I expect the worst out of him. So he can do whatever he wants,” the senator said. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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