Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (center) is surrounded by journalists as he posts bail at the Makati Regional Trial court after being arrested in Manila on Tuesday. Noel Celis, AFP
MANILA (UPDATE)- Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Tuesday posted bail a few hours after a Makati court ordered his arrest for his role in the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.
Trillanes posted a P200,000 bail for his temporary liberty while on trial for rebellion, among criminal charges against him revived after President Rodrigo Duterte voided his 2011 amnesty.
Makati RTC Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda then issued a release order.
Trillanes made bail after undergoing booking procedure, including taking mugshots, at the Makati Police headquarters.
Trillanes was taken into police custody on Tuesday afternoon, making him the second opposition senator to be arrested under the Duterte administration. Senator Leila de Lima, another vocal critic, was detained in early 2017 on drug-dealing charges, which she denied and decried as political persecution.
Police officers led by Metro Manila Police chief Guillermo Eleazar, fetched Trillanes at the parking lot of the Senate, where he had been holed up for nearly 3 weeks since Duterte nullified his amnesty.
Duterte voided the amnesty that former President Benigno Aquino III granted Trillanes in 2011 due to his alleged failure to file an application form and express guilt for his crime.
Trillanes has asserted that he followed proper procedure in applying for and securing amnesty.
He is facing separate coup d'etat charges at the Makati RTC Branch 148 for leading a mutiny at the Oakwood Premier hotel in Makati City in 2003.
The mutineer-turned-lawmaker has decried his arrest and said that Philippine democracy lost.
"Natalo po ang demokrasya ngayong araw na ito (Democracy lost today)," the senator said, saying he had shown the court proof that the amnesty granted him was valid.
"Officially ay wala na po tayong demokrasya. This case goes beyond me. Dito nakikita wala po akong krimeng ginawa kasi nabigyan ako ng amnesty 7 taon na ang nakalilipas," he added in addressing the media just before police took him into custody.
(Officially there is no more democracy. This case goes beyond me. You see that I did not commit a crime because I was granted amnesty 7 years ago.)
Trillanes, who has been a vocal critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, said this was a clear case of political persecution against administration critics like him.
The senator had long accused Duterte of keeping secret bank accounts, which the President has repeatedly denied.