Senate panel tackles fate of detained senator

By Mario B. Casayuran
Manila Bulletin 0nline
27 August 2008

Senate Majority Leader Francis N. Pangilinan said yesterday that the Senate Committee on Rules has started harmonizing the competing jurisdiction claims of the Supreme Court and the Senate over Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV who remains detained in a military camp since his successful political campaign for a seat in the Senate in the May 2007 elections.

The Senate Rules Committee discussed the fate of Trillanes with the Supreme Court maintaining its order that the senator should remain in jail for the non-bailable coup d’etat charges.

The Senate opposition bloc, led by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr., stressed that Trillanes should appear in the Senate and perform his legislative duties because he was elected by the people.

Pimentel maintained that there is double standard being applied on Trillanes who is still being held behind bars although he and military mutineers, without firing a shot and hurting no one, walked into and stayed for a while at a Makati City hotel demanding the resignation of President Arroyo last year.

He said Nur Misuari, former head of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which rebelled against the government and killed 100 civilians in Sulu, was allowed by the courts to leave his jail on bail. Misuari’s MNLF signed a peace accord with national government in 1996.