REVOCATION OF TRILLANES-AMNESTY IS ILLEGAL (Dean Mel Sta Maria)

We were all taken aback upon learning that the amnesty granted to Senator Trillanes has been revoked by President
Duterte. The revocation is illegal. The presumption of regularity of government action does not apply in this case.

This can easily be explained.

First. Only the people in its fullest and supreme representation can grant amnesty that will result in the complete
obliteration of a political crime against the State. Accordingly, the President and majority of the members of Congress
( all directly voted by the sovereign people) --- concurring with each other ---- have been constitutionally given that
authority. Perforce, withdrawal of amnesty, if there is a ground, must likewise evince the same kind of gravitas. Alone,
the President cannot revoke. Congress must agree to the withdrawal as its concurrence to the grant cannot be lightly
set aside. To whomsoever is given the power to grant -- be it the executive , congress or both --- is given the power to
withdraw.

Second. In a democracy, the basic assumption is that concentration of governmental power in one man or
department leads to abuse of that power. Government authority is dispersed among the three great branches of
government ---- executive, legislature and judiciary --- so that, in case of abuse or impending abuse, each one checks
the other creating a balance preventing autocracy. To contend that only the President, in his absolute discretion can
revoke an amnesty despite the constitutional set-up making Congress as the other half of the granting power,
destroys that check-and-balance system. In so doing, deference that must be accorded to a co-equal body is
conveniently and brazenly shrugged-off fomenting despotism.

Third. The amnesty given to Senator Trillanes enjoys the greatest presumption of constitutionality as it was
extraordinarily made possible by two great departments of government: the executive and congress. The assumption
must be that these agencies and the subjects involved must have known the facts, scope, limits of the situation and
followed the requirements to reach a most crucial decision for the grant of the amnesty. Only proof beyond
reasonable doubt can make it unconstitutional.

Fourth. Only the Supreme Court can pass upon an amnesty’s voidness or nullity based on its illegality. When Justice
Secretary Guevarra reasoned that it is the prerogative of the executive to treat it as void, he is fundamentally wrong.
If that is so, then the executive department not only disregarded Congress but has also effectively usurped the
powers lodged in the Supreme Court to decide the constitutionality of government actions --- an act smacking of
dictatorship.

Last but not the least, there is, in effect, nothing to revoke because the crime, as a result of the amnesty, has already
been erased. The President is now estopped from disavowing such effect. Senator Trillanes has been elected as a
senator. He has taken his oath. He has served and is serving the people as a legislator and a fiscalizer. As explained
by the Supreme Court in one case: “the government must not be allowed to deal dishonorably and capriciously with
its citizens, and must not play an ignoble part or do shabby things.” ( SM Lnad Inc vs. Base Conversion G.R. No.
203655, March 18, 2015). This revocation was a “shabby” thing.

One cannot help but think that an ulterior motive prompted this revocation beyond the personality involved. And that
motive may very well be --- not only to silence the opposition, but also ---- to give the citizens something more to fear
when they voice out their criticism against the present administration. Nothing less than a dramatic exhibition of
unrestrained power designed to discourage even senators from aggressively resisting it --- to make them cower in
terror. That is totalitarianism.

Also, one cannot help but think that this is another spectacular red-herring -- a strategy to redirect the concerns of the
people from the mounting national problems --- soaring high prices, rising inflation rate, weakening of the peso,
outflow of dollars and investments, China’s unabated intrusion in the West Philippine Sea, failure to correct
contractualization, worsening drug problems and crime rate, government graft and corruption, and others.