MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte said there are no plans to arrest Senator Antonio Trillanes IV without a court-issued warrant.

With sarcasm, he said the opposition senator can stay in the Senate as a “boarder.”

“Nobody is interested to arrest him. The military does not have the interest, I do not have the interest. He can stay there Senate) as a boarder,” he said during an interview with reporters on Thursday, September 13, at the Typhoon Ompong command conference in Camp Aguinaldo. 

Trillanes insists the Armed Forces of the Philippines still have orders to arrest him, thus making it wiser for him to stay in the Senate, where Senate President Vicente Sotto III has assured no arrest will be made without a warrant.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque earlier accused Trillanes of using up taxpayers’ money with his stay in the Senate. Roque said the lawmaker was merely taking advantage of his prolonged stay there for “political mileage.”

Duterte reiterated his claim that the granting of amnesty to Trillanes was void because it was former defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin who signed his certificate of amnesty, not President Benigno Aquino III himself.

However, 5 presidents apart from Aquino had also depended on committees to process and approve amnesty applications based on their proclamation.

Duterte also insisted on a plot to oust him hatched by the Left, the opposition Liberal Party, and Magdalo “but not all.”

Duterte also said the military is yet to constitute a court martial even if Department of National Defense spokesman Arsenio Andolong had said last September 5 that it was already preparing to do so at the time.

“The police…sabi ko (I said) do not arrest until there is a warrant of arrest by the court. Eh wala man (And there’s none). Ang (The) military, it has not constituted the martial law court (court martial). So it’s only the civilian courts. Eh wala naman akong order, so kung walang order, bakit ko ‘yan pakialaman? (I didn’t make an order, so if there’s none, why would I interfere?),” said the President. – Rappler.com