Whitewash of Trillanes’ role in coup plot feared

[Monseratto]

Is P.Noy interferance setting a BAD precedent? Hope Trillanes et al won't double cross him...

By Amando Doronila

President Benigno Aquino III showed his hand in trying to break the impasse over the election of a new Senate President when he ordered the justice department to review the coup d’etat case against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Mr. Aquino said state prosecutors could have erred in filing the case against Trillanes and that the former Navy officer, detained in military camps for seven years, may have been a victim of injustice.

It was not clear what urgency prompted Mr. Aquino to order the review.

Whatever the reason, it appeared as a clumsy and heavy-handed presidential intervention on two fronts—one, in the courts, which have jurisdiction over the case; and the other, in the Senate, which is deadlocked over the election of its next leader in time for the opening of the new Congress on July 26.

In a bid to take control of the Senate, the Liberal Party (LP) has decided to field Sen. Francis Pangilinan as its candidate, with the backing of Mr. Aquino.

Open fight

Despite presidential backing, Pangilinan is short of the 13 votes he needs to win a majority in the Senate. The bloc supporting him can count on no more than six votes.

Pangilinan is competing with Sen. Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party, who himself can count on no more than four NP members.

Two possible dark horses loom as alternatives—Sen. Edgardo Angara, who claims to have the support of seven senators, who are neither LP nor NP members; and incumbent Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who is backed by at least three senators.

Trillanes, who has not been allowed by the court to attend the Senate sessions, has filed a petition with the court to grant him bail and to attend the opening session of the Senate on July 26, when it will elect its new officers.

Crucial vote

Trillanes’ vote will be crucial, especially for the LP bloc of Senator Pangilinan, who is struggling.

Failure of the LP to win the Senate presidency and the majority in the chamber could be the first major embarrassment for Mr. Aquino in his attempt to win the majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Earlier, defections from the former Lakas-CMD-Kampi majority appeared to have reinforced the candidacy of LP Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. for speakership.

Whether the court would allow Trillanes—jailed for leading a military mutiny centered at the Oakwood apartments in Makati City on July 27, 2003—to attend the session is uncertain. A refusal could trump the attempt by Mr. Aquino to gain majorities in both houses and to ensure passage of key measures on his legislative agenda.

Narrow and legalistic

There are doubts in legal circles over whether the justice department could legally intervene in the court’s jurisdiction over the Trillanes case.

Lawyer Reynaldo Robles, Trillanes’ chief of staff in his Senate office, said initiatives to implement the President’s statement were now in the hands of the state prosecutors.

In ordering the review, Mr. Aquino gave the opinion that the law on coup d’etat did not forbid takeover of the hotel by the military rebels. He set out a narrow, technical and legalistic interpretation of the law.

According to Mr. Aquino, “Trillanes was first incarcerated by virtue of the charge of participating in a coup. However, if you review the Revised Penal Code, there is a provision that says how a coup is committed, it says if there is swift, violent attack. Then there’s an enumeration. The numeration does not include a hotel.”

Merely an opinion

Mr. Aquino made it clear he was merely expressing an opinion and that “my opinion is … the (prosecutor) should not have let that case prosper.”

The case was filed in the context of the Oakwood mutiny, in which the rebels seized the Makati hotel and demanded the resignation of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over alleged corruption. The siege collapsed after the rebels failed to muster wider public and military support.

It’s unclear whether the President’s opinion was well-thought-out, as he was speaking impromptu with reporters in what appeared to be an “ambush” interview.

Mr. Aquino’s opinion sought to make a distinction between a successful and a failed coup. It was not a nuanced opinion.

It ignored the fact that several coups against President Corazon Aquino between 1986 and 1989 were swift, violent attacks, and all failed. They involved attacks on the seat of government, military installations and strategic public institutions, such as telecommunications facilities—all classical targets of coups—and even hotels and business centers, as in the case of the December 1989 uprising, in which there was street fighting in the Makati central business district.

Larger political objective

Under Mr. Aquino’s opinion and narrow interpretation, the Oakwood mutiny did not qualify as a coup because it did not attack the seat of state power and strategic public institutions.

Central business districts are economic strategic centers and attacks on them have proved to be disastrous to the economy. The President appeared to be making light of the importance of economic centers in the success or failure of coups.

In dismissing the Oakwood siege as lacking the requirements for a coup, Mr. Aquino ignored the findings of the Feliciano Commission, which looked into the root causes of the Oakwood rebellion.

The key finding of the commission report was that the Trillanes-led mutiny was “part of a larger conspiracy to grab power from the Arroyo administration.”

The commission backed government intelligence reports that the Trillanes group planned to seize power, restore the ousted Joseph Estrada to the presidency, and appoint a 15-member revolutionary junta.

From this perspective, Mr. Aquino’s opinion appeared to be an attempt to minimize the importance of Oakwood as a strategic target of a violent attempt to seize power.

It also appears to be a whitewash of Trillanes’ participation in the coup and clear the way for his attendance in the Senate sessions for a larger political objective—control of the legislative agenda by the Aquino administration.

[fourtheboys96]

if planting explosives in a hotel is not coup d'etat, then charge him with something else. maybe something to do with terrorism.

[wowiesy]

on the field of corruption... as in walang wang wang.. walang kotong cops.. good..

but on this field.. ewan ko...

kamag anak inc... ibang magkakamag anak na ang naka upo (just look at DBM Secretary Abad, DOF chief of Staff na Abad din ang last name, PMS chief.. Abad din ang last name... ang uupo na vice chairperson or is it chairperson, ng house appropriations committee is Abad din... ).. cornered ang hawak sa pera...

abangan ang susunod na kabanata..

[Monseratto]

Noynoy didn't learn from her mom's mistake of letting military putchist go lightly. If these people don't agree with the civilian leaders, it's now OK to occupy Makati and cause economic harm to the country.

[uls]

PNOY is sending a bad signal

it's like sinasabi niya sa armed forces "it's ok to stage a coup when you think it is justified"

[niwde11]

yan ang system of govt sa pinas. mapa noy, gma, erap ect ang nakaupo.
but i am more inclined na it had something to do with the upcoming selection of the senate presidency.

[wowiesy]

yan ang system of govt sa pinas. mapa noy, gma, erap ect ang nakaupo.
but i am more inclined na it had something to do with the upcoming selection of the senate presidency.

add to that... his stance towards the military and the PNP... is somewhat reflective of his experience during the Aquino I administration... sa dami ng dinaanan nilang hirap ... mabilis sa kanya ang magpakumbaba .. dinanas kasi nila yung pagpapahirap sa kamay ng military (both during the Martial Law years, and during the Aquino I administration)...

[dodongdiamond10]

Noynoy didn't learn from her mom's mistake of letting military putchist go lightly. If these people don't agree with the civilian leaders, it's now OK to occupy Makati and cause economic harm to the country.

Yung pakikialam nya sa DOJ given na yun, pinanindigan pa ni De Lima na trabaho daw ni Pnoy ang siguruhin ang hustisya sa bawat mamamayan. Pero kapag pinanghimasukan nya ang Court Martial charges ibang usapan na yun, magiging matindi ang implication nito sa relasyon ng Militar at civilian authority.

[CVT]

Dapat talaga,- "Reconciliation, with justice"....

10.4K:shazam:

[niwde11]

yan ang hirap, tapos si honasan gusto amnesty. hehhe gada yata strategy yan ah. attempt a coup, pag success hero. pag failed wait for amnesty basta sikat ka like the two. now you know bakit humiwalay yung ibang magdalo kay trillanes at yun leader. ginagawa silang pawn.