Trillanes says another oust-Marcos plot brewing

MANILA, Philippines — Two senior officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) are plotting to oust President Marcos to make way for a takeover either by former president Rodrigo Duterte or his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV said yesterday.

Trillanes said the active police officials are working with retired PNP officials and members of Duterte’s Cabinet in their plot to destabilize the Marcos administration.

He named Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, a former PNP chief, as one of the retired officers involved in the ouster plot, which is supposedly the fourth attempt against Marcos.

PNP public information officer Col. Jean Fajardo said they have not monitored any destabilization plot. She appealed to Trillanes to spare the PNP from the issue, saying the organization is apolitical.

Former Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said Trillanes’ allegation was “hallucination” and he was having a “hangover from his coup d’etat days.”

“There are active and retired PNP officials identified as involved in destabilization efforts,” Trillanes said at a press conference at the Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

Asked how extensive the latest destabilization attempt against Marcos is, Trillanes said it is very serious.

He said those behind the plot are escalating their destabilization in the hope of installing Sara as president by June 30, which marks the second year of her tenure as Vice President.

Trillanes said having Marcos removed and replaced by Duterte by June 30 would make her eligible for a second term as president, similar to what happened to former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who won as president in the 2004 elections after serving the remainder of the term of her predecessor Joseph Estrada.

Trillanes said some of the alleged ringleaders in the PNP are members of the so-called Davao Boys or those with close ties with former president Duterte.

According to Trillanes, both the active and retired police officials, including a former PNP chief in the Duterte administration, are recruiting police officers to join the ouster plot against Marcos but has so far not succeeded.

Trillanes said the PNP has already taken appropriate actions against the officials suspected to be in cahoots with other coup plotters.

“Almost all of them had been relieved,” he said, referring to the police officials linked to the destabilization plot.

Retired officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as well as former senior officials in the Duterte administration are also actively recruiting military personnel for a destabilization plot but nobody has so far joined their cause.

Trillanes, who as a military officer rebelled against Arroyo twice, said there is no reason to oust Marcos from power, stressing that the Chief Executive’s foreign policy and his approach to AFP’s modernization plan have satisfied the military establishment.

The former senator said there is already a sense of urgency among the Dutertes and their supporters to return to power as the International Criminal Court (ICC) is expected to issue arrest warrants against the former president by June or July for the killings and other human rights violations in the conduct of the former president’s war on drugs

The Vice President is also expected to be served a warrant of arrest, along with Dela Rosa and Sen. Bong Go.

Trillanes said Dela Rosa’s committee on public order and dangerous drugs initiated hearings on alleged leaked documents from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency linking President Marcos to drugs, reportedly to agitate the military and the public and drum up support for his ouster.

In an interview with “Storycon” on One News, Trillanes said he couldn’t tell exactly how the plotters intend to have Marcos removed from power. “I don’t have that kind of specifics,” he said.

But he said if the removal is by impeachment, Sara Duterte would replace Marcos. If through a coup d’etat, it would be Rodrigo Duterte.

Trillanes told Storycon that Michael Yang, a businessman-friend of the former president, along with some other Davao businessmen, was financially supporting the ouster plot.

“Fortunately, they are moving without support from the AFP despite their many attempts. But when (former president) Duterte started hitting Marcos again, the contacts were established. Those retired military who are pro-Duterte had to lie low when they heard that they can be court-martialed and charged,” Trillanes said. — Jose Rodel Clapano