Vocal government critic Antonio Trillanes IV is no longer a senator, but that doesn’t mean his legal woes have ended.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) announced today that it has filed charges with the Justice Department against Trillanes and several other persons for allegedly kidnapping a Davao City-based businesswoman named Guillermina Lalic Barrido, also known as Guillermina Barrido Arcillas.
Also charged were Trillanes’ alleged conspirators who have been identified as Father Robert Alejo, a lawyer; Jude Sabio, a lawyer who filed a complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court; and a certain Sister Ling, reported Remate.
Barrido alleged that she was initially brought by Trillanes and his conspirators to the Convent of Canossian Sisters in the Paco district of Manila and then transferred to the Holy Spirit Convent in Quezon City where she was detained from Dec. 6-21, 2016, reported The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Barrido alleged that Trillanes and his cohorts forced her to sign a “ready-made affidavit to destroy the reputation of the present administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.”
“It is clear from the foregoing that herein respondents feloniously, maliciously and intentionally put the complainant under detention for 14 days in order to force her to do something against her will,” the PNP said.
Trillanes alleged today that the government is using Barrido to harass him, reported the Inquirer.
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Barrido first went public in April 2017 when she claimed that Trillanes and his associates coerced her to accuse Duterte of benefitting from the illegal drug trade, reported Rappler. Trillanes denied her accusations and said it was Barrido who first approached Sabio and claimed that she had information that would destroy Duterte. However, when Trillanes’ staff met Barrido, they decided that she was not credible and could not be used as a witness against the president.
In its statement, the PNP said that Barrido’s case is somewhat similar to the case of Peter Advincula, the self-confessed star of the viral Ang Totoong Narco List videos. Advincula alleged that Trillanes, along with other opposition figures, produced the videos with the intent to oust Duterte from the government so that Vice President Leni Robredo could take his place. Trillanes and all of his co-accused, who are now facing charges such as libel and sedition, have denied Advincula’s accusations.
Trillanes is also charged with rebellion for his involvement in the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege in which he led a band of soldiers against then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He was given amnesty for the crime by former President Benigno Aquino III in 2010, but that was declared void by Duterte in September 2018 due to the senator’s alleged failure to file an Official Amnesty Application Form.
As a consequence, the rebellion case was revived by a Makati court which subsequently ordered Trillanes’ arrest in September last year. He’s currently out on bail.
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