From Magdalo to Senado: Trillanes’ new journey

By Aldrin Cardona; The Daily Tribune 03/05/2007

A busted wall clock, a hammock, five plastic tables for some food which dates back to two or three days ago, one long concrete table serving as a reception area for visitors, and somewhere, one off-reception portable radio (probably owned by one of the guards) playing the latest love songs and some corny jokes amid an annoying hiss. Welcome to what cashiered Navy Lt/SG Antonio Trillanes IV calls their “country club.”

The “country club” for the Magdalo soldiers who took part in the failed Oakwood mutiny in 2003 is a heavily-guarded detention center of about 400 to 500 square meters. Trillanes’ visitors described the place as hot and humid, and like the busted wall clock, one loses his sense of time in boredom and the familiar Magdalo faces you see 24/7.

It is also bounded by barbed wires and a high fence, paling in comparison with the posh country clubs where their generals own substantial shares their salaries can hardly afford.

Although Trillanes considers this his home for nearly three years after his transfer here a year after his incarceration in the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) stockade — which he shared with criminals, terrorists and Muslim and New People Army rebels, Trillanes knows his next fight is now beyond the four corners of the Marine Headquarters in Bicutan.

Trillanes filed his certificate of candidacy for senator before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Feb. 6, taking the opportunity to change the terrain of his fight for change from Oakwood to the platform of the Senate which President Arroyo earlier wanted abolished. It’s where Trillanes knows his voice, familiar as it is since the day he called for Arroyo’s resignation, would be heard.

But Trillanes’ supporters believe his voice is being muzzled, like the guns that did not fire in Oakwood amid promises by government negotiators who allegedly did not keep them, that they now want Trillanes to be given an opportunity to present his “platform for change” before an electorate which they believe has had enough of the “lying, cheating and stealing” that allegedly have become prevalent under Arroyo’s watch.

Trillanes has asked the court to grant him an access to the media and some media personalities have also petitioned for their chance to interview Trillanes, knowing their supposedly unabridged right to information is being violated by the military ban on the media.

“We are asking the court to lift the media ban,” Ronaldo Averilla, Trillanes’ best friend and campaign spokesman, said. “Unlike the busted wall clock in their detention building, the Magdalos are akin to the calls of the time and (Trillanes) really feels for the people which he vowed to serve, even if it means his freedom. And so the senate would become his platform, if the Filipino people will give him the opportunity.” “We are really optimistic our petition will be granted,” Averilla said. “But, of course, we are aware of the opposition from the military leadership against it. We are, however, still praying Trillanes will be given his chance to speak.”
For now, Averilla’s group is embarking on a non-traditional approach to campaign for Trillanes. And with the help of the other candidates from the Genuine Opposition, they hope to put together more volunteers who will guard votes for Trillanes.

One volunteer, a former soldier, claims to have pooled P7, 256 from friends and his family’s savings for Trillanes. “That’s the best we could offer Trillanes.
He has sacrificed a lot for us. I am now resigned and what I earned as a soldier was not even enough for my family. I earn better buying and selling scraps, our soldiers are pitiful. I volunteered for Trillanes because I know he can do something about our brothers’ sorry plight.”

The volunteer claimed it is ironic that Trillanes’ cause has broadened from his earlier demands for combat boots for the soldiers in the field, to making demands for the resignation of top military officials and Arroyo for their alleged involvement in what is now known as the “Greenbase documents.”

(The Greenbase papers — a supposedly secret action plan claimed to have been signed by Mrs. Arroyo and implemented by her top generals to undercut the peace process with Moslem rebels and blame them for the bombings in selected areas in Mindanao, which the papers claimed were orchestrated by government forces.

Its aim is to capture Buliok complex in Liguasan, once an MILF military base, where a palm oil project is being planned as payback to Malaysia and Libya for their help during the short-lived peace talks between government and the MILF. The joint-venture is worth $100 million, but many innocent people died and scores were wounded in the implementation of the bombing activities which were later blamed on the MILF).

From Oakwood, Trillanes now finds a different platform but his calls remain the same, including the resignation of Mrs. Arroyo, whom Trillanes claimed is “guilty of electoral fraud and violations of people’s rights” in his speech read by a Genuine Opposition spokesman during the Genuine Opposition’s grand rally at the Plaza Miranda.

Indications, however, point to government not bending over to allow Trillanes out of the “country club” to campaign. Where his speeches, to be read by other people, take him remains to be seen, but if surveys are to serve as a gauge, Trillanes appears to have a chance at winning.

The more difficult question is, will Mrs. Arroyo and the military allow him to serve?

“We are aware of the repercussions of this (Trillanes’s decision to run for senator),” Averilla said. “But he is ready for it and he plans to set up a legislative office where he stays now. Maybe we can ask the courts to grant him a pass during days when his vote is needed on important issues. What is important now is he remains to be heard, however faint the shout is coming from his cell.”

“We are moving and we are on target, along with the Trillanes volunteers. Umuusad naman kami. At kahit magka-ubusan na ng pera ang ibang kandidato, we are confident people will continue to support him,” Averilla said. “Yung katawan lang ni Trillanes ang nakakulong sa ‘country club,’ hindi si Lt. SG. Trillanes.”