MANILA, Philippines?Senator Antonio Trillanes on Thursday accused the past administration of waging a black propaganda by pinning the blame on him and the Senate for the death of former Defense Secretary and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes.

?There's now this sudden twist in the propaganda that it?s as if I was responsible for the death of the late General Reyes. That can?t be,? Trillanes said.

?Okay, while the exchange during the hearing on January 27 was confrontational and looking back now, we would wish it were more sober, but all that is behind us....We can?t possibly put the blame on anybody here for the death of General Reyes. Only he knows what led him to that (commit suicide),? he added.

At the Senate?s inquiry into the plea bargain agreement between ex-military comptroller Carlos Garcia and prosecutors on January27, Reyes showed up as a resource person, but ended up the accused.

Retired Commodore Rex Robles, a close friend of Reyes, and a member of the Feliciano Commission that inquired into the causes of the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny, had said in an earlier interview that he believed that Reyes was subjected to public humiliation in the Senate.

?There are indications that the investigation is going beyond ferreting out the truth. They?re out to trample on the reputation of certain individuals,? he had said.

Trillanes also defended the Senate from criticisms for its treatment of Reyes during a hearing, wherein he was accused of receiving some P50 million cash as a ?send-off? gift when he retired in 2001.

It would be impossible, Trillanes said, to control senators from extracting information from the resource persons, especially when they become evasive.

An unmoved Trilanes said that he and the Senate won?t ?back down.? ?No, that will not happen.. We'll keep on digging into this thing until we catch those who stole from the nation?s coffers,? he said.