Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte orders arrest of another key critic

Senator Antonio Trillanes forced to camp overnight in senate to avoid arrest

Carmela Fonbuena in Manila
Wed 5 Sep 2018 07.37 BST

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the arrest of another senator critical of his administration, revoking a seven-year-old amnesty granted to rebel-turned-senator Antonio Trillanes.

Duterte ordered the military and the police to apprehend Trillanes so that the former navy officer could face trial for leading two failed coups in 2003 and 2007 against the presidency of Gloria Arroyo, an ally of Duterte who was recently installed as speaker of the house of representatives.

Trillanes is the second senator the Duterte administration has ordered arrested. Leila De Lima, a vocal critic of Duterte’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs, has been detained for 18 months over allegations of conspiring to trade illegal drugs.

Florin Hilbay, De Lima’s lawyer, said there was “a very clear pattern of using the judiciary as instrument to silence critics or perceived enemies of the Duterte administration,” noting that Duterte cannot unilaterally revoke the amnesty granted by a former president.

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