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FORMER
Navy lieutenant senior grade Antonio Trillanes IV should
get used to the idea that he may not be able to attend
even a single session of the Senate in his six-year term
as a senator, a military lawyer said on Sunday.
Lt. Col.
Feliciano Loi of the Armed Forces Judge Advocate
General’s Office said there has been no precedent that a
soldier or former member of the Armed Forces, who is
facing court martial, has been released for the purpose
of attending official functions, when elected during the
pendency of the proceedings.
This is
so because Trillanes’s case is the first in the history
of the military. The former Navy junior officer and
mutineer ran as a senator and won while facing violation
of Articles of War charges before a general court
martial.
On
Friday, the Commission on Elections proclaimed Trillanes
the 11th winning senator in the May elections.
During
his proclamation, Trillanes said that he would attend
Senate sessions by asking the Regional Trial Court in
Makati, where he is facing coup d’etat charges, and the
court martial to allow him to attend Senate sessions.
Sen.
Rodolfo Biazon, former Armed Forces chief of staff, said
that Trillanes may have to ask the Senate to pass a
resolution urging both courts to allow Trillanes to
attend Senate sessions.
Biazon
said that the senator-elect could leave his detention
quarters for the session and return in the evening. He
added that Trillanes could also attend Senate committee
hearings. But Loi said these may never happen.
On the
contrary, he said there is jurisprudence wherein an
elected politician who has been accused and later on
convicted on a nonbailable crime was never allowed to
get out of jail and attend his legislative functions.
He was
referring to convicted Rep. Romeo Jalosjos of Zamboanga
del Norte, who was not allowed to leave the National
Bureau of Prisons facility in Muntinlupa City, although
his case was still on appeal.
“Take
the classical case of Congresman Jalosjos. He was even
reelected, yet he cannot attend the sessions in the
House of Representatives. Probably that will also apply
to the good senator-elect Sonny Trillanes,” Loi said.
He said
Trillanes has to get the approval of the court martial
body just to attend the Senate sessions.
Loi said
that there is no bail under a general court-martial, and
if you are charged with an offense in such a body, you
are automatically restricted to quarters.
“Once
you are charged before a court martial, you are
restricted to quarters. So if you are restricted to
quarters, how can you attend the [Senate] proceedings?” |
