Expecting the arrest of Senator Trillanes
Another Cebu killing has happened, this time the victim was Mayor Mariano Blanco of the southwestern town of Ronda. From the report I read in The FREEMAN the killers spoke in Tagalog and came into the municipal hall at 1 a.m. using a van. That same report apparently revealed that Mayor Blanco has been spending his nights at the municipal hall for fear of his safety after President Rodrigo Duterte tagged him as a narco politician. So was this killing done for the sake of the war against drugs? I don’t know, but certainly we need to know more why Mayor Blanco was killed and if there was truth to what President Duterte said.
Come to think of it, it was only last February 19 when Ronda Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab was shot and killed across the courthouse in the North Reclamation Area. He was in the car with his wife Pearl when he was shot and killed. Blanco was a relative of Ungab. So now the town of Ronda is the first town to have its two top politicians rubbed out by still unidentified assailants. Can the National Bureau of Investigation help in finding out who the killers are? Until now, the case of Ungab is still unsolved. Now we have the case of Mayor Blanco. Abangan!
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It seems that many people are expecting the military to arrest Senator Antonio Trillanes IV who apparently is staying inside the Senate building. But wait, during a media interview with Senator Trillanes, he vowed that he would never hide from the police and would gladly accept his fate. Then Senate President Tito Sotto told him to stay in the Senate building so he can be protected. The Senate after all is an independent Legislative Branch of the government, which the Executive Branch cannot enter without permission. The Senate President only did what he should do to protect the senators from being arrested by the Executive Branch.
As to the other question on if Trillanes is being singled out by Malacañang, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. and chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said the amnesty granted to other personalities in 2010 will also be subjected to review. Now in my book, this is what we call being fair. If Trillanes has issues regarding his amnesty I’m sure that his friends in the Magdalo group who participated in the Oakwood mutiny way back in 2003 may also be in the same boat as Trillanes.
On the question presented by Trillanes that Malacañang was out to silence the critics of the president, Roque had this to say: “The president believes in free speech. The president does not want to silence the opposition, there is no truth in that.” As of the moment, the PNP has not yet received arrest orders for Trillanes, so it really is a waiting game. But the other issue is that of the military. Because, if you recall, the crime of rebellion filed against Trillanes and the Magdalo group was done when they were still in military service.
Meanwhile, Panelo likened the Trillanes case to the case of former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno who was ousted as for her failure to file the required Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth. Panelo said there was lack of requirement in Trillanes’ application for amnesty. I already said that while I believe that an amnesty is supposed to be final, however the Duterte administration used something unique to remove Sereno, Quo Warranto proceedings, and got what they wanted. So I guess the same thing is happening to Trillanes.
There is a lesson to be learned in what is happening to the country today. Remember back in 2015 when the Sandiganbayan issued an arrest warrant against senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon Revilla Jr.? No less than Senator Francis Escudero issued a statement that for as long as the case is filed before the Sandiganbayan, the senators can be arrested even during a session in the Senate. So the whole nation is waiting for the time when the authorities will effect their arrest of Trillanes. Now whether or not this will silence him is another story.
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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.
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