MANILA — Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Sunday left for Singapore and the United States for further schooling after securing court approvals, his staff confirmed.

The trip is part of the former lawmaker’s “continuing professional education” at the National University of Singapore and Harvard University in the United States.

Trillanes needed court permissions to travel since he is facing several court cases and has an existing hold departure order (HDO) against him.

On Friday, the Court of Appeals gave the go-signal for Trillanes to leave the country, temporarily lifting the HDO.

The CA Seventh Division permitted him to travel from Sunday, August 28, 2022, until Thursday, September 22, 2022, or for almost a month.

In his motion to travel, Trillanes said that his current occupation as professor at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government and the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance requires him “to attend continuing professional education and to keep himself abreast with the latest developments in the fields of Governance, Leadership, Public Administration and Public Policy.”

He said he will attend a 3-day course called “Mastering Policy Impact Evaluation and Analysis” at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore from August 29 to 31.

He will then attend a “Leadership for the 21st Century” course at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government from September 11 to 16.

Trillanes is appealing his libel conviction rendered by a Makati court last year over his 2015 statements against former Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay in connection with the “Justice for sale” issue.

• Trillanes found guilty of libel over 2015 statements vs ex-Makati mayor Junjun Binay

Binay and the Office of the Solicitor General have not objected to Trillanes’ motion.

In granting Trillanes’ motion, the appellate court considered his previous travels and allowed him to use the same P100,000 cash bond he used when he was allowed to travel in January 2020.

“We are convinced that accused-appellant is not a flight risk and is, thus, entitled to a temporary lifting of his ban to travel abroad for the period of 28 August 2022 to 22 September 2022,” the resolution said.

“[R]ecords show that accused-appellant has been traveling to other countries in the past with leave of court, even as the criminal cases against him were pending, and that he has always returned to the Philippines and complied with the conditions imposed by the court,” it added.

The court also took note of his personal circumstances as a public figure currently engaged in the teaching profession to support the justices’ belief that “there is little to no risk that he might abscond to another country to escape the territorial jurisdiction of the courts.”

The court added that the penalty imposed by the Makati court in convicting Trillanes for libel was only a fine of P100,000, equivalent to his travel cash bond, which can be forfeited to satisfy his crimninal liability should he decide to flee.

The resolution was signed by CA Associate Justice Michael Ong and concurred in by associate justices Marlene Gonzales-Sison and Gabriel Robeniol.

It was Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano who found Trillanes guilty of libel in May 2021, the same judge who previously junked the government's bid to revive the coup d’etat case against him following former President Rodrigo Duterte’s revocation of his amnesty.

Trillanes, in April 2015, accused the Binays of supposedly paying a huge sum to secure an injunction order from the court and singled out “Mayor Junjun” in his statements, accusing him of being part of a "family of syndicates".

Soriano said Trillanes made statements “absent a serious verification and investigation is recklessness bordering on a disregard of what is true of false.”

Trillanes is facing other cases such as the conspiracy to commit sedition before a Quezon City court over the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” video which accused the Duterte family of involvement in the illegal drug trade.

Duterte’s son, Rep. Paolo Duterte, also filed a libel case against him before a Davao City court.

Trillanes’ camp said the former lawmaker was also able to secure court permissions from the Davao court as well as from Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 150 which revived his rebellion case in 2018.

But the CA in March 2021 already junked the rebellion case.

It is not immediately clear why Trillanes had to seek permission from the Makati RTC.

• Court of Appeals junks revived rebellion case vs Trillanes

Trillanes, a former Navy officer, and his Magdalo band of soldiers and junior officers, occupied the Oakwood Hotel in Makati City in 2003 and the Manila Peninsula Hotel in 2007 to protest alleged corruption under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

He was detained for 7 years before he was granted amnesty in 2011 by then President Benigno Aquino III.

He served in the Senate from 2007 to 2019.

He failed to return to the Senate, ranking 21st among senatorial bets in the May 2022 polls with 8.552 million votes.

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