trillanes wants some excemptions so he can function as senator



MANILA, Philippines -- Senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV asked the
courts Tuesday to grant him an all-encompassing leave to attend
official Senate functions and allow him to set up an office inside his
military prison, so he can perform his duties as a member of Congress.

Trillanes filed his motion with the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch
148, which is trying him on coup d'etat charges.

The alleged leader of the failed Oakwood mutiny of 2003 also asked
Judge Oscar Pimentel permission to grant media interviews on specified
days of the week.

In the motion he filed through his lawyer Reynaldo Robles, Trillanes
enumerated what he called "reasonable requests" in order for him to
perform his duties as a duly elected member of the Senate.

He asked that he be allowed to do the following:

-- To attend regular and plenary sessions in the Senate, as well as
committee hearings, meetings, consultations, investigations, etc.;

-- To set up a working area at the Marine Brig, Marine Barracks
Manila, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, consisting of a personal computer
and communications equipment;

-- To receive members of his staff at the work area for meetings,
briefings, consultations and coordination;

-- To give interviews and to air his comments, reactions and opinions
to the press; and

-- To receive on Tuesdays and Fridays media who wish to interview him.

But the panel of prosecutors led by Assistant Chief State Prosecutor
Richard Anthony Fadullon and Senior State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera
objected to the requests, saying they were virtually "carte blanche"
privileges.

"A privilege should not be afforded anyone simply because of a change
in their stature," Fadullon told Pimentel.

On the matter of the working area, he said Trillanes' custodians in
the Marine brig should be allowed to tell the court whether their
policies would allow the arrangement sought by Trillanes.

Fadullon noted that partisan political activities were barred in
military detention facilities. Robles, however, said Trillanes only
wants a small area to work when the Senate is not in session.

The prosecution also objected to the request to allow Trillanes to
attend all official Senate functions without going through the usual
motions.

Navera told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of
INQUIRER.net, that they were more comfortable with the existing
arrangements, a view shared by the Marine brig commander, Lieutenant
Colonel Lucenario Obena.

Pimentel gave the prosecution five days to file their comment, and
also directed Trillanes' custodians to comment on the motions.

Meanwhile, the judge is expected to resolve soon another motion by
Trillanes for leave to attend his July 2 oath-taking ceremony at the
covered court of a church in BF Subdivision, Phase 1, Deparo, Caloocan
City, where he is registered.

The prosecution posed no objections after Obena assured the court that
the Marines could deploy enough escorts to secure the area. Pimentel
said he would issue an order on the matter very soon.

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