After three weeks of sleeping in his office in the Senate building, Philippine senator Antonio Trillanes IV is going home.
He said so himself while talking to the media today, ABS-CBN News reported. His decision to leave the sanctuary provided to him by his fellow lawmakers follows the decision of Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 148 to defer its decision on the Justice Department’s request for Trillanes’ arrest.
According to The Philippine Star, Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano set a hearing for the presentation of evidence next Friday, Oct. 5.
The Department of Justice had requested for two arrest warrants against Trillanes from two different Makati RTCs.
On Tuesday, Makati RTC Branch 150 ordered Trillanes’ arrest for his involvement in the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege. The arrest warrant was served to Trillanes on the same day but the senator posted a bail of PHP200,000 (US$3,687.24) and immediately went back to his Senate office.
Coup charges are usually non-bailable but Trillanes previously won a petition in Branch 150 that granted him bail, Rappler reported.
Trillanes also faces coup charges in Branch 148 for the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny but will not have the option to post bail there.
Both the Manila Peninsula Siege and the Oakwood Mutiny were coup attempts led by Trillanes against then-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He was detained for his involvement for seven years until he was granted amnesty in 2010 by then-president Benigno Aquino III.
However, President Rodrigo Duterte declared this amnesty void earlier this month because Trillanes allegedly failed to file the proper amnesty application form.
Trillanes is a vocal Duterte critic. If arrested, he will be the second senator to be jailed in the Duterte administration following Senator Leila de Lima, another critic of the president.
