The stability of the country’s political, economic and social foundations is once again under threat. Sen. Antonio Trillanes publicly proclaimed to all who cared to listen that he intends to stage a coup should PDP-Laban’s presidential bet Rodrigo Duterte snatch the May 9, 2016 elections.
Whether this was uttered in the heat of childish tantrums and agitation he suffered when he failed to prove his BPI accounts expose on Duterte or not, Trillanes’s statements are at the very least irresponsible and wayward. Perhaps, we can say he is not a good student of Philippine history.
But he is abetted and encouraged by the mainstream Metro-Manila based media unfriendly to the tough talking Davao City mayor who, from all indications, is going to be the runaway victor in the presidential derby.
Notwithstanding the bias and prejudice of imperial Manila towards the Mindanao pride, Duterte has been able to unite the voice of Mindinaoans as he clearly leads the survey with a whopping 61 percentage points across all economic classes in the country’s second biggest island.
Trillanes should get a brotherly lecture from Sen. Gringo Honasan, a much more experienced senior mistah from the Philipine Military Academy. The latter, who led several uprisings against the Cory Aquino regime in the late 80s, has admitted in so many words that his actions pushed back the country’s journey forward after the globally-lauded People Power Revolt in 1986.
But Honasan, now a respected senator seeking the vice-presidential post, has become a transformed statesman and legislator, in language, in ethical behaviour and decorum.
In contrast, though already a re-elected member of the Senate and now on his ninth year as such, Trillanes is still very much rough around the edges.
Allegations in the Facebook social media portal say that he is not as clean as he seems to present himself as a fellow coup plotter, a certain Capt. Faeldon, recently revealed.
Trillanes’ very fertile mind has earned him the tag “Outstanding Inventor” by fellow senator and vice presidential rival Allan Peter Cayetano for his whimsical propensity to come up with outlandish ideas as well as for his boundless braggadocio.
If logic were to be our basis for his “attack dog” mentality, why is Trillanes so ferocious in his singular aggression against Duterte? Is he expecting something – a gift – in return in case Grace Poe whom he rabidly supports as his presidential candidate, triumphs in the polls?
He admitted so during the VP debates that he is salivating to become the DILG secretary. Did I hear him right?
In 2003, when Trillanes staged two aborted coup attempts against the GMA government, I thought he was waging a lonely war, not against corruption as he then professed, but simply against the Filipino people who were hoping that change will come sooner or later.
However, as the ensuing dramatic developments unfolded, Trillanes’ military adventurism was aimed at propelling himself to a political career. Thus, using the unpopularity of GMA as his principal weapon, he launched his senate bid despite being behind bars at that time. Get my drift?
But as things develop now, I sense a collective feeling of sanity in the AFP and PNP that another coup will never happen. Our country is better off struggling under a democratic set up than battling the ghosts of uncertainty. We cannot follow the footsteps of our neighbour Thailand which is until now under military rule.
That is why the idea of federalism as peddled by Duterte is slowly catching fire because this system grants empowerment to the people first and to the LGU second. Federalism exists on the maxim that the people make up the state and the state is existing because of the people.
Trillanes’ threat to stage a coup is treasonous as well as un-patriotic and selfish. This guy seems to possess a polluted messianic vision just like Poe who has been chanting a so-called legacy inherited from his late father, movie king FPJ.
Maybe, the coup threat, like I earlier said, was just an utterance at that particular moment of an explosive mood swing.
Trillanes has plenty of bright years ahead in his political career. He needs wise counsel from a highly experienced political strategist and mentor. (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) God bless the Philippines!
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