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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Fidel Castro Trillanes?
By Antonio C. Abaya Written June 11, 2007 For the Standard Today, June 12 issue As this is being written, Comelec is preparing to proclaim Navy Lt. (sg) Antonio Trillanes IV as the 11th place winner of the just concluded senatorial elections. With only three provincial certificates of canvass left to tabulate, Comelec has determined that the standing of Trillanes, who is more than 300,000 votes ahead of 12th placer Koko Pimentel, can no longer be affected by the 770,000 votes still un-tabulated from those three CoCs. By any yardstick, the rise of Trillanes into a major political player in only three weeks, while he was detained in a military stockade, is nothing less than phenomenal. Not allowed to go out and campaign, Trillanes was literally out-of-sight for most voters, except for an occasional television interview. And yet, he won. Convincingly. In the mid-April public opinion survey of Social Weather Stations, Trillanes came out in 21st place, just ahead of film star Richard Gomez, who eventually bombed out of the race. Three weeks later, in another SWS survey that came out one week before the May 14 elections, Trillanes jumped to 15th place. In the Pulse Asia exit poll of some 10,000 respondents, who were surveyed in their homes after voting � polling voters in or just outside the precincts is illegal � Trillanes came out in 9th place. He finished a respectable 11th in the official Comelec tally. As far as I know, no other political player, whether jaded trapo or wild-eyed neophyte, has vaulted to such an exalted position in such a short time, with the additional normally crippling handicap of not being able to campaign because he was in detention all throughout the exercise. Who or what accounted for his phenomenal electoral success? Political pundits are still scratching their heads over this totally unexpected development. . It helped that Trillanes had the public persona of a seemingly idealistic military reformer who actually staked his life on the line by being one of the leaders of a very public military mutiny against a very unpopular president, Gloria Arroyo, at Oakwood in July 2003. And it also helps that Trillanes has the rugged good looks that his fellow-mutineers did not have. In the Philippine setting, this combination of real-life underdog derring-do and reel-life star-quality looks were a combustible mixture waiting to be ignited for a political cogon fire. It recalled Gringo in1986-87 when menopausal female editors and columnists were blissfully disturbed with wet dreams about their Macho Man Incarnate. . But Oakwood-2003 was four years ago. Pure sex appeal would not have been enough to pull it off in 2007. It needed a political infrastructure and deliberate strategizing to make it happen. Sen. Jamby Madrigal has been mentioned as an early Trillanes supporter. I do not know if she is herself claiming authorship. But according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (June 07, 2007), a leftist organization called Kongreso mg Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Pilipinas (KPMP), said to be associated with the communist KMU, started working for Trillanes in March. They also campaigned for another GO candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson. A KPMP white paper is said to have outlined its strategy for helping Trillanes win, including distributing campaign materials for him in key areas: Metro Manila, Iloilo City , Negros Occidental, Gen. Santos City and Polomolok town in South Cotabao , where KPMP had an organizational presence. The document is said to have concentrated on the last 42 days of the 90-day campaign, and �the objective was to push candidate Trillanes into the second half of the 12-slot winning circle, creating a bandwagon in the last weeks of the campaign period.� �The creative strategy for this kind of campaign is to position candidate Trillanes as the only GO candidate with a �clean and comprehensive platform��.� Alongside this creative strategy, �a negative strategy�.is expected to create powerful associations of name recall if the name of Trillanes is juxtaposed with that of Pangilinan, Recto, Joker, Sotto and Angara .� Not quite as perspicacious as it is being made to appear. KPMP�s strategy obviously assumed that TU would be the winning force and Trillanes would hitch a ride on it. As it turned out, TU was swamped by GO and Trillanes was carried along by GO�s momentum. Nonetheless, KPMP has just up-ended TU�s Reli German and insinuated itself as a credible strategist for 2010.. In my article The Trillanes Tsunami (May 17, 2007), which was probably one of the first to take note of the rise of Trillanes, I wrote: �Will [Trillanes] be the New Magsaysay that Filipinos, especially the middle class, have been desperately searching for? �Or, being now a threat to the ambitions of several high-profile politicians (including Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), will he become the New Ninoy Aquino, who will wind up dead on arrival before he can make his maiden speech? �Or will he be the New Gringo Honasan, master of the failed coup and not much else.?� Or, let me add, will he be none of the above? He is accused of some very serious crimes which are non-bailable. Even if he is proclaimed senator, he cannot be released from prison and his trial has to proceed, if we are to abide by the Rule of Law. The chances of being the New Magsaysay are therefore zero. He has vowed that, if elected senator, he would work for the impeachment of President Arroyo, for which he has been chided by his intellectual superiors that as senator, he has to be neutral vis-�-vis President Arroyo since the Senate would be the one to try a president impeached by the Lower House (which is not going to happen, anyway.). At any rate, he has closed the door to being reconciled with President Arroyo as a way out of his mutiny problem. So forget about being the New Magsaysay (who achieved national fame as a Cabinet minister of the incumbent president).. And if he is convicted and sentenced to a long prison term for his involvement in Oakwood 2003, he can forget about being the New Gringo Honasan as well. For the next three years at least, Trillanes faces an uncertain future, to escape which the only way out seems to be a daring escape from prison, followed by a popular revolt led by him against a very unpopular lame-duck president, which might succeed this time.. I am sure the strategists of KPMP and Dodong Nemenzo�s Laban ng Masa are by this time working on how to package and project the New Fidel Castro or the New Hugo Chavez. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot.com OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Fidel Castro Trillanes?� More Reactions to �What Now?� More Reactions to �Gringo in Guinness� Is Trillanes� Case one of Catch-22? Hi, Tony. Probably one of the reasons is the vote of the youth. As we know, the youth is idealistic and naturally rebellious. Weren't we all when we were in college? Also, the youth, being naive of the machinations of the self-serving political and business interests, easily believe anything negative said about the administration. Cheers! Bobby Tordesillas, (by email), June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww It's quite likely Trillanes will be allowed to serve his term as senator if they follow a precedence set by the Sandiganbayan when it allowed Jinggoy Estrada to serve in the Senate. He is a co-accused in the plunder charge against his father Erap, a non-bailable criminal offense, yet he was granted bail. If you think about it, what was good for the Estradas was not good for Congressman Romeo Jalosjos who was denied the same privileges even if he was already in prison. Why should these people be allowed to run for public office only to be denied the right to serve if they win? This political accommodation must stop. It corrodes and corrupts the judicial system. Cesar M. de los Reyes, (by email), June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Tony Abaya: I am actually disturbed by the election of Trillanes. For one, are we opening our doors to "men on horse back" as saviours? Does he have a political program? I know he can order helpless soldiers under him, even if they are illegal orders. Is this a prelude to the "militarization" of the Philippines ? Too many military men are occupying crucial positions. In the Israeli army, they retire early and become politicians, and/or statesmen ---Rabin is an example. I do not know of a mutiny of an Israeli officer. The PMA military training does not impress me. If they are really well trained, I have seen very few PMA trained officers, volunteer in Iraq . I know during the martial law years, military officials were observing UP faculty teaching. What is laughable is that they were not fooling anybody. Remember, the notorious alleged killer of the Marcos years, who became govenor of Cagayan? Or the retired general, whose soldiers were involved in the salvaging of leftists in Oriental Mindoro. Let us give Trillana a chance. I hope he speaks English, I heard one senator, could barely speak English, and did not sponsor a single bill in the Senate. Max Fabella, (by email), Florida , June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Unless Gloria Arroyo mends her ways and desists from deceiving the Filipino people and be true to her duties and responsibilities as head of a nation, illegitimate though she may be, then there is no other recourse but to force her out of office by any means, which she is a unlawfully and unconstitutionally occupying, anyway. There is no doubt that Gloria Arroyo will do anything to push for charter change to pave the way for her eventual assumption as Prime Minister, thus perpetuating herself in power. Narciso Ner, (by email), Davao City., June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hello Tony, Success has many fathers (or mothers) but failure is an orphan. Reading your article on Trillanes and the KPMP, I'm struck by the facility by which this leftist organization claims it has made Trillanes' victory possible. If this is true, why didn't Satur Ocampo and his other fellow communists run for the Senate instead? They knew (know) that they would not stand a chance of winning, so it is easier to appear to support a "bank-able" candidate then co-opt him after victory. This is what KPMP would want many Filipinos to believe - that they are actually a Senator-maker. Actually, until after the election, I never heard of KPMP and believe that neither have many Filipinos. I would rather believe our national propensity for supporting the underdog and a protest vote. KPMP would have it otherwise. Anyway, Trillanes' claim that he has been communicating with the Communists - as RAM and Gringo did during their underground days - will only alienate him from many in the military. He has become what many of us hate - a politician. Regards, (Brig. Gen.) Dick Morales, (by email), June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww How true, and sadly, but hopefully not, prescient! I just don't know what is worse : the ultimate hypocrisy of the current administration or the real possibility or spectre of demagogues like Chavez, Kim, the ayatollahs and leaders of Iran ? Tony Elica�o, (by email), June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww It is ironic that KPMP, an organization with communist leaning, supported Trillanes, a military man supposed to be a staunch anti-communist, as every man in uniform is. It is more ironic that a left-leaning movement succeeded in catapulting Trillanes to the Philippine Senate. Being a U.S. ally, the Philippines has long been a country that abhors communism and fully embraces democracy. Could it be that GMA's unpopularity was such that the people would choose to sleep with the communists just the topple her? Or the opposition was the one who chose to make the communists their partners to offset the administration's perceived strength in the local levels? Note that the rebels were the taxing authorities in the remote barrios of the Philippines . Whatever the reason was, Trillanes could never be a Magsaysay, if only because he is in cahoots with the left. Magsaysay earned Uncle Sam's big support when he portrayed himself as the Defense chief who considerably weakened the Huk movement then. Trillanes could not be a Fidel Castro either, because, unlike Castro who has ruled Cuba almost forever, I see him as a passing fancy who just derived his popularity from the unpopularity of GMA. (Fidel Castro was no passing fancy either. He gained popularity for his militancy against the vastly unpopular dictator Fulgencio Batista. ACA) Brilliant as he is thought of by many, he could be a bust judging from his statements that really lacked depth and analytical thinking. He would work for GMA's impeachment, he said. As senator, he did not realize he was to sit as a judge not as a prosecutor. Other than that, he never said anything that he would do as senator worthy of remembering. Or he may not get to the Senate at all if he loses the rebellion case against him. Victorts, [email protected], June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Please leave Trillanes alone. He has won and has every right to be recognized and respected as Senator-elect. Whatever the future holds for him and for this country, remain to be seen. A good friend of mine always says' "Pag itinakda, magaganap." So, there! More power to you, Tony. Jeremias Decena, (by email), June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Sir, I have never read or heard about the political inclinations of soon-to-be-senator Trillanes. Is he a leftist, a rightist, or what? Or are this terms still applicable? All I know is that he is openly against Pres. Arroyo. Whether this includes the currently successful policies she set in place, I also don�t know. From the looks of your article below, I am wont to conclude that Trillanes has a working relationship with the left. Does this make him a leftist? Thanks. (No, it doesn�t necessarily make him a leftist. It just makes him na�ve and opportunistic. When he was waging guerilla war against the dictator Batista, Fidel Castro was interviewed by liberal writers from the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. He assured them that he was a reformer, not a communist, and the liberals believed him. The rest, as they say, is history. ACA) Bong L. Alba, (by email), June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww MR. ABAYA, WHAT IF TRILLANES IS JUST AN 11TH PLACE BENEFICIARY OF A MASSIVE WELL-SMOKESCREENED CHEATING THE OPPOSITION PERPETRATED UNFETTERED BUT WHICH HAS YET TO BE OR MAY NEVER BE EXPOSED ? WILL HE BE AS GLORIOUSLY PERCHED AS YOU DESCRIBED ? PER MY HUMBLE ANALYSIS THE SCORE TODATE IS 12-0 WHICH CAN SOLIDIFY INTO A FINAL 12-0 ROUT BY FRIDAY THIS WEEK IF THE MAGUINDANAO VOTE IS COMPLETELY SHELVED AND THE SOLE SURVIVING ADMINISTRATION CANDIDATE FALLS INTO THE CRACKS. THERE ARE TWO OPPOSITION TROJAN HORSES IN THE ADMINISTRATION TICKET WHO WON. OTHERWISE WHY ARE THEY NOT RAISING EVEN AN EYEBROW WITH THE OUTCOME, FEISTY AS THEY USUALLY ARE ? AND THE TWO WINNING INDEPENDENTS ARE AT-HEART OPPOSITIONISTS SA TOTOO. THIS MOTHER OF ALL ELECTORAL SCAMS WAS EXECUTED LIKE A LONG RUNNING PLAY IN SEVEN ACTS STARTING BACK IN EARLY JUNE 2005 AND WITH A WITTING AND UNWITTING CAST COMPOSED OF THE OPPOSITION, SOME ADMINISTRATION INSIDERS, BIG FUNDERS, SOME SHADY CHARACTERS OF YET UNKNOWN ORIGIN WHO HAVE MASTERED PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE INCLUDING THE ART-OF-COVERTING-A-LIE-INTO-TRUTH-BY TELLING-IT-REPEATEDLY-ENOUGH OF GOEBBELS, MAJOR MEDIA GROUPS, TWO MAJOR SURVEY OUTFITS, CIVIL SOCIETY AND MAJOR RELIGIOUS GROUPS. THE BATON-WIELDING MAESTRO ORCHESTRATING ALL THESE MIGHT HAVE EMPLOYED THE "CENTER OF GRAVITY" ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES INVENTED BY GENERAL CLAUSEWITZ OF THE PRUSSIAN ARMY AND WELL KNOWN AMONG EVEN TODAY'S MILITARY STRATEGISTS THAT IS WHY THE EXECUTION WAS FATALLY EFFECTIVE HITTING THE ADMINISTRATION'S CRITICAL VULNERABILITES WITH MILITARY PRECISION. MAYBE I AM JUST EXCESSIVELY ADDICTED TO MINDMAPS THAT IS WHY I CAN CREATE SUCH IMAGINARY SCENARIOS ? HA HA HA....PERO WHAT IF ITO NGA AND NANGYARI ? KAWAWANG INANG BAYAN ! MORE POWER ! Ernie del Rosario, (by email), Cainta, Rizal, June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I think people who voted for Trillanes did so not because they like him as a person or believe what he may claim to stand for. I think people voted for Trillanes to show their dislike for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her cabal of dishonest officials in her government, including those in the military who are corrupt and beholden to her. The avalanche of votes for the opposition should be taken as the equivalent of an Edsa revolution which has spread nationwide like wildfire. Thank God ballots not bullets saved the nation. Amado F. Cabaero, (by email), June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony: Trillanes's unbelievably spectacular victory in the latest senatorial contest is by itself a good measure of how desperate the Filipino electorate is to find a leader who can help them get out of the quagmire into which Filipinos have fallen all these years and show them the way to the land of milk and honey. I won't be surprised at all if Trillanes decides to run for the presidency next time around and, once more, achieve another unbelievably spectacular victory. The Philippines is ripe for the emergence of a Fidel Castro Trillanes. Mariano Patalinjug, (by email), Yonkers , NY , June 12, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww In 2010 or some future date, watch for candidates Col. Querubin and Gen. Danny Lim run for Congress or the Senate. Watch them come out on top of surveys from data gathered by their own people and analyzed by �reputable� survey outfits. Watch them buoyed by excellent write ups by selected news writers of tabloids (some in broadsheet form) who will package them as �idealists� (vomit, vomit) who tried to serve the people by removing an effectively demonized President (if she survives the relentless attack on her legitimacy). Watch them be �endorsed� by unsuspecting Bishops in contrived photo-ops. Watch them get interviewed by shrill broadcasters falling on top of one another in inexplicable eagerness. Watch how their operators cum poll watchers volunteer with NAMFREL and PPCRV (who have no process of screening political DPAs- including �sleepers� in COMELEC�) get hold of their IDs. Watch how easily they get hold of COCs and quickly put �snopake� and smudges on election returns that favor their opponents to be pounced on by waiting lawyers from some newly organized NGO watch dogs and have them discredited as spurious. Watch them present witnesses and evidence of fraud of their own making which the media will feast on - as usual. Watch them have the elections in their opponent�s bailiwick be declared as null & void due to lost returns and all sorts of charges (guess who lost them). Watch their media assets deliver another great job of giving the impression that cheating can only be done by the other side. Welcome the future victors Sen. Danny Lim and Congressman Querubin!! Yes, you can not fool all of the people all of the time. But they need only to fool some of the people some of the time to get what they want. Never mind platforms, issues or the �all the time�. Each time is another ballgame. Watch . . .and pray. Could these be the magic brew behind the 8-2-2 and the Trillanes debut? Na-utakan yata ang TU ! Dark clouds continue to loom ahead, kemo sabi. E.J. T.Tirona, (by email), Paranaque City , June 13, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww IT ABSOLUTELY DEFIES BELIEF THAT A FRINGE GROUP COULD BE SO INSTRUMENTAL IN TRILLANES'S STUNING WIN. IF THE TU WITH THEIR LIMITLESS FINANCIAL AND LOGISTICAL RESOURCES, INCLUDING A NATIONWIDE NETWORK OF LOCAL OFFICIALS ONLY TOO ANXIOUS TO DO MALACANANG'S BIDDING COULD DO SO BADLY, WHY SHOULD TRILLANES, RELYING ONLY ON THE PEOPLE'S PERCEPTION OF HIM AS A MAN WITH THE COURAGE OF HIS CONVICTIONS, NOT TRIUMPH IN THE MOST ASTONISHING FASHION. IT IS CLEAR THAT EVEN BEFORE TRILLANES HAS BEEN PROCLAIMED (IF HE DOESN'T GET SQUEEZED OUT OF THE MAGIC 12 BY THE CRIMINALS IN THE COMELEC) THAT A SMEAR CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN LAUNCHED TO NEUTRALIZE HIM. ONE THING SHOULD BE BORNE IN MIND THOUGH, FILIPINOS JUST LOVE A MARTYR Alex Menes, (by email), June 13, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Trillanes is the new boy wonder and darling of Philippine politics, much like a Ninoy Aquino, riding along the popular disenchantment with the President and her administration. Millons of principled, capable and talented Filipinos are already disappointed, to put it mildly, in hopelessly staking in out in this country which is being legally plundered each year for decades by incumbent politicians and the powerful inept bureaucracy. How else can we explain the almost P3.897 trillion foreign debt by end February that has left the 88.7 million Pinoys in debt to the tune of P44,318.00 per Filipino today. Trillanes could fit into the frustration of every Filipino today. His revolt is the muted demands of the people against the present administration and the corruption of the military and nearly almost all sectors of the government including the judiciary which exists only for themselves, demands the rise of a selfless liberator like a Filipino Simon Bolivar in our midst. Could it be Trlllanes? Or someone like Fr..Ed Panlilio ? But definitely those of us who could not join the compelling exodus to other countries and must endure the Calvary of living in the Philippines on account of the massive corruption of an unresponsive government that thrives on crucifixion of the people through excessive layers of taxes and more taxes each year to support its inefficiency, and bloated profligate unconscionable spending of the government which can not even perform its basic mandate is simply too much for the present generation of Filipinos. Yes, Trillanes youthful dynamism and idealism may propel him to the highest magistracy of the land given the ripe situation the Philippines is in A credible Simon Bolivar would be embraced by the masses even through a revolutionary government, with or without bloodshed, at this point. Blame the politician's insatiable appetite for power and greed and unabated corruption that can even shame the devils in Hades. They foment the situation which unwittingly prepares the path for a Trillanes., and more people cut into his mold to carry out their thinning hope and desperation in this country. By the way, this commentary is responsive to the written observation of a foreigner in the Philippines . . Vic del Fierro, Jr., (by email), June 13, 2007. Coalition for Consumers Protection & Welfare, Inc. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww . Dear Tony, The election of Trillanes shows that charisma still triumphs over substance. So much for the maturity of Filipino electorate. Yes the well known actors like Sotto, Goma or Montano lost, it is because the likes of Lapid and Revilla flopped in the senate big time. Expect entertainers to make a comeback in 2010. Another is that the synchronized election reduces the attention of the people on national issues. Just say your anti-corrupt or anti-GMA will do. Very few people are aware that Trillanes is on trial for a very serious crime, much like Gringo or Jinggoy before him. Also, he was voted his mistahs and their ilks and the vanguards So what do you expect from Trillanes? We saw how a decorated coup plotter like Gringo performed as a senator, so expect nothing. One of his mentors is Ping , so he will be all noise and no meat. Another wasted senate seat. The guy is probably sincere but he violated the law while being an officer of the armed forces. He should not have been allowed to run until all his cases are settled. Now we have another felon that is about to be protected by the (once) august hall that is the senate. Regards, Marvin Valido, (by email), June 13, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya, The NBC just declared Trillanes Senator-elect five minutes ago. He will be formally proclaimed tomorrow. Is this equivalent to Fidel Castro's July 26, 1953 rebellion kickoff vs Batista ? More power, Ernie del Rosario, (by email), Cainta, Rizal, June 14, 2007 (Depends on how he reacts to the communists who are courting him. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Trillanes may well be the next Magsaysay that champions righteousness but it is too early to make that bold prediction. Politics in the Philippines has created an environment that poisons human values. Contemporary politicians no longer have any trace of genetic traits that could guarantee good behavior. Dr. Nestor P. Baylan, (by email), New York City , June 16, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww What makes Trillanes tick? I wonder why you did not include the Erap factor. Is there an obvious connection between Trillanes and the disgraced Erap? Who probably funded the former's failed mutiny? Did Erap also fund Trillanes' senatorial campaign? What do you think will be the "attitude" of Trillanes towards Erap now that this coup plotter is a senator of the land? It is not surprising that the newly reloaded "leftists" supported Trillanes. Can it be traced to the links of Erap with Boy Morales, and other rehabilitated "communist operators?" Birds of the same feathers flock together, even if they belong to opposing camps, it is not surprising that extremist from both left and right will conspire together against a common enemy, a not so popular sitting lame duck president. I guess this is just part of a bigger power play among supposedly well placed power players. Ordinary Filipinos will just have to work harder to support the dollar remittance economy of GMA. No more no less. Leave the power governance to a different class of Flips, the unscrupulous Ilustrados. Felix Zamar, (by email), June 18, 2007 (My answer to most of your questions is: Yes. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reactions to �What Now?� (June 06, 2007) Thank you for including me in your mailing list. I like to read what others say about your opinions. But I also would like to read what you are saying about the topics you write about. We get daily a copyof the PDI but you don't write for this paper. We can only buy one paper a day. Could you also include in your mailings the gist of your recent columns? Thank you. Remy Marmole�o, (by email), June 19, 2007 (My articles since 2001 are archived in www.tapatt.org. My 2007 articles are archived in acabaya.blogspot.com. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, Election have just concluded and same bananas had been elected. Now, that majority won the election are from the opposition. Mark my word, the first thing they will do now (hope I am wrong) is to impeach the President. So the war will go on and might last for a year or more, instead of joining the President to help improving the economy (peso is getting stronger against the mighty dollar-though this might be a temporary basis, but at least there is an improvement whether we like it or not). So during the senate first session, opposition will position Jinggoy Estrada to be the senate president..... positioning him to be the next Philippine president.....Hope my speculation is a dream.. .. Since the opposition now have the majority, they can now dictate the coarse for their self interest and most of them will find away to recover the millions they have spent during their campaigns. They will not stop until they will succeed impeaching the president. (The possibility of impeaching President Arroyo is zero because the Lower House is controlled by the administration coalition. The Senate, alone, cannot impeach the president. ACA) Hope Gringo this time will now contribute something positive or fullfill his promises not like before that he have contributed at least 2% bad impact to the philippine economy due to his coup attemps that drove investors away. Trillianes!!!! I don't know what kind of government and people we have. Just wait and see how Trillianes can contribute something good not like Gringo de-stabilizing and driving investors away. Might be he did realized that his usage being a pawn for the de-stabilization attempt turned him to a senator and used this time as an opening eye to contribute some changes to the system we have. Thanks, Tony... I love reading all the reactions in your column. Romy Lacasandile, (by email), June 19, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Is Trillanes� case one of Catch 22? The more immediate commonsensical question that may be raised by every man on the street would amount to this � �Why will Trillanes be not allowed to serve his term as senator-elect free from the crippling chain of any pending administrative or criminal charges�? Otherwise stated, no legal obstacle ought to be laid in his path when he comes to office and back where he lives. Certainly, the jail is for criminals and it would most inappropriately apply now to Trillanes who has been voted by 11.1 million people as the 11th senator-elect however proclaimed only in the 11th hour. It is a good thing Trillanes decided to file his candidacy however late in the day � to become the senator he now is amidst public perception that he will be the next icon of change in a rotting political landscape. Alan Paguia has been quick to ask the Supreme Court on whether or not the public offices hearing Trillanes� cases continue to have jurisdiction over them even while Paguia submits that said public offices would have been ousted of their jurisdiction over the pending cases. Of course, Paguia did not fail to invoke the principle that � �No public office has the authority to defeat the sovereign will�. As to what would be the sense of the Supreme Court on this inquiry is again but a waiting game. This early, Ping Lacson believes that mechanisms are available such as an arrangement where Trillanes may have to be billeted within Senate premises or as Pong Biazon also said, �Senate rules could be changed to accommodate Trillanes�. More proposals are surely forthcoming and it is high time the Supreme Court does the most correct pre-emptive judicial act. For instance, one General Esperon appears to have been pushed on the wall to launch his limited-in-radius and cheap counter-propaganda saying that the court (in this case, the Regional Trial Court) should ask for a military pass that would allow Trillanes to leave military stockade with no less than him as the chief of staff or rather the �thief of staff� (in so far as his Garci alleged involvement is concerned) as the single approving authority. This scheme and scene definitely presents a bad legal precedent where the will of a mere Chief of Staff of the AFP can prevail upon or supersede that of the will of the court. To think that the Chief of Staff of the AFP is subordinate to the Secretary of the Department of National Defense to which he falls under is clearly disconcerting. If that is not abuse of authority, tell me what is> Viewed differently, the act of Esperon can be read as the desperate behavior of one whose head is about to be cut in the chopping board as soon as Trillanes traces back the historical track that led to Esperon�s possible involvement in the �Hello Garci� controversy. Trillanes� newly-mandated role to serve as senator only means that he will turn the table on Esperon who had been likewise �heckled� by UP students when they threw �bugok na itlog� on him as a public statement that he is one of the rotten eggs of Philippine realpolitik. As Esperon did not as much as resent it or acted violently against those pitching hecklers should mean that he has sort of acknowledged the fact �civilian authority is supreme over the military� yet now would quite knowingly and willfully disregard any sacred act of our courts. For now, no one in the administration can build a legal castle in quicksand. Esperon and his rather arrogant AFP spokesperson who said he would rather call Trillanes as Mr. Senator than Honorable Trillanes must shift to low gear in their counter-propaganda drive as all the issues they embrace and invoke appear to stand on shallow legal grounds. Truly, if there is such a sovereign will that the Constitution itself, the courts, the justice secretary himself, the Supreme Court as an institution, and a well-meaning collectivity called a Republic of the Philippines � then it is the solemn thought that everything inferior subordinates itself to the sovereign will of the people. It will bore a viewing universe to see a scenario where a judge would issue a court order that a military pass be issued by a general in the AFP in order to remove the handcuff to its prisoner (not even serving sentence yet much less been convicted) and be brought to the Senate where few meters away from the Plenary Hall, the prisoner�s handcuff would be removed by his military guards and then allowed to seat in a chair. And after session, the whole process is repeated. And day in and day out, this whole crazy routine will be repeated 365 days times 6 times. Have we become nuts? What is your take on this, Mr. Esperon and Mr. Bacarro ? Primer C. Pagunuran, (by email), June 20, 2007 University of the Philippines , Diliman, Quezon City wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reactions to �Gringo in Guinness� (Nov. 19, 2006) This is one reason why I think the result of the last elections defy conventional logic (that good will prevail over bad). Onli in da Pilipins talaga! Ed. J. Tirona, (by email), Paranaque City , June 19, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww IT SEEMS WE HAVE FORGOTTEN PAST INCIDENTS AND PEOPLE WHO HAVE BROUGHT DOWN OUR COUNTRY! Think about it. Raffy Perfecto, (by email), June 19, 2007 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |