Illegal, idiotic says Cebuano law expert

REVOCATION OF TRILLANES’ AMNESTY

THE dean of the University of San Carlos (USC) College of Law in Cebu City questioned the cancellation of the amnesty granted to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV by President Rodrigo Duterte and urged the Supreme Court (SC) to step in to correct a wrong.

Lawyer Joan Largo challenged the SC justices to prove that they are not under the control of Malacañang.

“First, there was that unilateral withdrawal from the ICC (International Criminal Court). Now, there is this unilateral cancellation of Trillanes’ amnesty,” Largo said on her Facebook post.

“As is becoming glaring by the day, this President has been arrogating unto himself powers he does not (exclusively) possess, bastardizing all mechanisms of checks and balances so essential in a functioning democracy,” she said referring to President Duterte’s perceived encroachment on the powers of other branches and units of government.

Political harassment

Meanwhile, veteran lawyer Democrito Barcenas believed the revocation of the amnesty grant to Trillanes is a form of “political harassment.”

“The revocation of the amnesty of Sen. Trillanes is pure and political harassment. The amnesty was validly granted by Pres. (Benigno) Aquino and validly approved by Congress. Once accepted, it wiped all political offenses,” Barcenas said.

He also described the action of the President as both “illegal and idiotic.”

Thus, Largo called on the highest court of the country to do its role as the final arbiter of law and justice.

“We look to our Supreme Court to rise to the occasion and show to us that the Supreme Court of today is not the Supreme Court of the past that buried its head in the sand, ostrich-like, amidst clear cases of abuse of authority,” she said.

Largo also urged new SC Chief Justice Teresita de Castro to show what judicial independence is.

“We trust that the De Castro Court will show to us what judicial independence means by putting this emerging dictator in his rightful place in what we hope is still a republican government. Our Supreme Court exists especially for moments like these,” Largo pointed out in her post.