By Leila Salaverria
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Jailed opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has asked the Supreme Court to reverse a Makati court decision and allow him to attend Senate sessions and other official functions.

Trillanes, who is in jail on coup d’etat charges in connection with the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny, also asked the high court to stop the military from preventing him from seeing his Senate staff, resource persons and guests at his detention cell at the Marine Barracks of Fort Bonifacio.

Named respondents in the petition were Makati regional trial court Judge Oscar Pimentel; Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr.; Marine Commandant, Major General Benjamin Dolorfino; Navy Flag Officer in Command, Vice Admiral Rogelio Calunsag; and Marine Barracks Manila commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Luciardo Obeña Jr.

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By DJ Yap
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–The Makati court handling the coup d’etat case against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV will hear on Friday his motion appealing the ruling rejecting his request for furlough to attend Senate sessions.

Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 will hear the arguments of both parties on whether he should reverse his decision denying Trillanes leave to perform his Senate duties while under detention.

On Thursday, the prosecution panel led by Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon and State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera filed another pleading opposing Trillanes’ motion, which they said smacked of special treatment.

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THE WHOLE world saw what Trillanes had done when he and his
cohorts held the Oakwood hotel and its employees hostage to further his “convictions.”

Guts you say? The man was definitely not thinking straight when he launched his campaign of terror. Despite the noblest of intentions, his actions had consequences that so adversely affected the economy that it moved progress some years back.

Trillanes is a military man. He has no business talking the talk of civilians. How he won as senator is so beyond comprehension. Is that how the Filipino voter selects leaders, on good looks and trash talk?

– Arpee Lazaro, Makati City, Philippines (via e-mail)

I CONGRATULATE Judge Pimentel on his ruling denying Mr. Trillanes free rein to attend Senate hearings.

If Mr. Trillanes thinks he can escape the consequences of his actions by hiding behind the skirts of an election victory, the law still has proven him wrong. He tried to gain power by stepping over our laws and now he uses the same system to try to bail himself out.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.

– Jerry Lalic, Ontario, Canada (via e-mail)

CHECK out this video taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Joel Guinto.

For more videos, visit iVDO.

DETAINED senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV was mobbed by media and supporters on his way to his proclamation as the 11th senator.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Erwin Oliva on June 15 at the Commission on Elections office in Intramuros.

For more videos, visit iVDO.

IT is a blatant display of stomping the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of choice and expression, if not displaying ignorance about it.

They use the enlisted men as guinea pigs to please their master, although the majority would surely avail of the doctrine of secrecy.

It is a calculated bullying exercise after exhaling the fumes of embarrassment and dismay that Mr. Trillanes got his way to the Senate which was a message so loud and clear of the Filipino voters’ support for Trillanes’ advocacy against the Arroyo regime.

– Napoleon de la Torre, Auckland, New Zealand (via e-mail)

TRILLANES would not even win as barangay chairman before Oakwood.

Yes, the Philippine electorate rewarded Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV for causing untold suffering to the people by bringing down the economy and wreaking havoc on the business community in co-masterminding the infamous Oakwood mutiny.

He used this popularity to shortcut his way to the political arena. Why can’t he do a Lacson and a Biazon who took the long road and got out of service and ran for public office on the merits of their accomplishments? Is he too ambitious and could not wait for his turn? Let’s see if he will turn out to be like the gentlemen I mentioned or will he be like Gringo who was rewarded again after warming his seat in a forgettable stint in the Senate.

– Buddy Jose, Las Vegas, Nevada (via e-mail)

A QUESTION has been plaguing me ever since the different tallies of the results of the 2007 elections became public.

Why is Antonio Trillanes so popular?

The truth is that I didn’t really believe he would make it to the final 12. I thought he was just filler for the Genuine Opposition (GO), a candidate they included in their slate just to fill the role of Rebel Leader. Yet here he is, No. 9  in the latest Comelec count, with 1, 260, 295 votes. Over 1.2 million people want Trillanes to become a senator!

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I THINK that since the election is now over save for the counting we can now do a post-election evaluation. Maybe candidates can learn a thing or two from this.

I did not vote for Pichay because he apparently spent so much for his political ads. This worried me. Where will he get the money to recoup his “investments”? Also, there were so many ads that I feel it backfired. I got fed up hearing him promise that he dreams of fulfilling my dreams. But it seems the only way for him to do that is that I must first fulfill his dream of becoming a senator.

I did not vote for Sonia Roco because of her “para silang autistic” remark aired over national TV. That’s a very callous statement. She claimed in her apology that she was not poking fun at children with special needs. But the fact that she used the word autistic had hurt me. By the way, autistic is not the politically correct term. It’s “children with autism.” Because we have to see the child beyond his or her autism.

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