Trillanes on the spot

Television (and radio, too) did a lot of service to the public during last Sunday’s mutiny in Makati by keeping us informed of what was going on at Oakwood, at the military camps and in Malacañang.

Even the rebelling junior officers benefited a lot from media (to think they were even shooing away media people in the beginning), because it was through radio and television that they were able to air the list of "causes" they were supposedly fighting for.

Actually, when you think about it, Lt. Antonio Trillanes and company could have just used television for their exposes – instead of camping out at Oakwood and threatening the public by planting bombs (which most people still say are fake) at the commercial center. There was nothing in their list of grievances that could not have been threshed out in a television talk show.

Front Page, Saksi and TV Patrol could have made big headlines out of their exposes. Military officials selling ammunitions to rebels in Mindanao, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes supposedly behind the Davao bombing, etc. – those were big stories that could not have been ignored by media. Now, these issues are more likely to be swept under the rug because all the attention had been focused on the personalities behind this failed mutiny.

Corruption in the military? The government knows that – had known that from the time of Marcos, which must have been when big-time corruption began. To Trillanes and his men, thanks for reminding the government about that social ill, but was there really a need to terrorize the country’s premier city that way last Sunday? Now, we’re going back to square one in terms of economy and I don’t know what else Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon can do to lure tourists to this coup d’etat capital of the world?

Oh, there was one other item in their expose: The President is set to impose Martial Law. Oh well, rumors, rumors, rumors. By the way, did you hear this rumor about Mrs. President’s plan to change her name to Glorietta Macapagal Arroyo?

I hate to trivialize last Sunday’s Makati mutiny, but I guess it really won’t hurt if we lightened up the mood a bit after all the tension last weekend.

Like what I said earlier, television also served Trillanes and company well at the height of their mutiny. However, there’s still a lot TV can do for these junior officers after all this hoopla had died down. Imagine the possibilities TV can offer them.

Trillanes and his men can try acting – probably in the sitcom Da Boy en Da Girl, the title of which may have to be changed to Da Boy, Da Girl and the Brats.

Given the fact that nothing is ever solved in this country, the real leader of that mutiny in Makati will never be known. Sadly, it will forever be the biggest guessing game in Startalk’s Da Who ?

Trillanes can sell his life story to Mel Tiangco’s Magpakilanman.

Of course, its rival, Maalaala Mo Kaya, would not take this competition sitting down. ABS-CBN could promptly buy the life story of Sen. Gregorio Honasan and dramatize it for television. That would be nice. Gringo on Maalaala Mo Kaya? Surely, we remember. How can we forget him and his failed attempts to grab power that shot down the economy – along with the lives of dozens of innocent civilians?

Since no coup plotter gets punished (they get elected into the Senate or become Usecs and Asecs), expect Trillanes to rise in rank in the military. When that time comes, maybe ABS-CBN can revive Bituin, make Trillanes the star and call the series Bituin 5 in his honor because, I’m telling you, he’d someday become a five-star general – what with the way things are in this country.

TV producers may trace Trillanes’ romantic conquests, turn his love stories into a Mexican telenovela and call it Re-coup de Amor.

If the government still doesn’t do anything about corruption in the military and this becomes another excuse for yet another group to break away and stage a mutiny, our economy will never ever recover and we will all go loco. When that time comes, maybe there’s nothing else we can do but join the cast of the GMA comedy show Nuts Entertainment.

Finally, my fervent hope is for this government to see this investigation to the very very end until the real leader of this failed mutiny is flushed out. But, as Bernadette Sembrano would say in her weekly show, Wish Ko Lang!