Aquino grants amnesty to rebel senator, troops
MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) President Benigno Aquino III announced Tuesday that he signed a proclamation granting amnesty to rebel soldiers and officers linked to military uprisings in 2003 and 2006.
The President said he submitted the proclamation, which he signed on Monday, to Congress for its concurrence.
"The proclamation needs the concurrence [of] both chambers of Congress," Mr. Aquino told reporters after attending a function of the Department of Trade and Industry in Mandaluyong City.
He confirmed that detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was covered by the amnesty proclamation.
Trillanes who, as a Navy officer then, led a band of soldiers that took over the posh Oakwood Apartments in Makati City in July 27, 2003 to demand the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and ranking military officials over corruption allegations. The shortlived mutiny led to the arrest of Trillanes who ran and won a seat in the Senate in 2007.
Three years after in 2006, the Marines, led by Colonel Ariel Querubin, staged a standoff at Fort Bonifacio also to demand the resignation of Arroyo.
Querubin, who was also jailed, has since been freed. He ran but lost in the May national elections when he ran for senator under then presidential candidate Manny Villar’s Nacionalista Party.
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