Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JOAN BONDOC
Malacañang on Friday said the move of Mindanao-based Philippine Military Academy (PMA) graduates to exclude opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV from the PMA Alumni Association, Inc. (PMAAAI) roster clearly indicates the sentiment of the military.
The remark came after the Eagle Fraternal Chapter of the PMAAAI, in a paid advertisement published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Friday, declared that they are “ostracizing” Trillanes and recommending his expulsion from the PMAAAI for his alleged “unbecoming acts that damaged the Academy’s honor and prestige.”
“That reflects (the) overall sentiment of the military,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told Palace reporters in a text message.
The Eagle Fraternal Chapter, an association of Mindanaoan PMA graduates, recommended the expulsion of the mutineer-turned-senator from the PMAAAI roster on several grounds including “the crime of coup d’etat and graft, disrespect and arrogant behavior toward senior officers and the President, treason acts, engaging in propaganda activities, constant annoying actions and for allegedly propagating a blatant lie that he has the support of PMAyers.”
The Mindanao-based association also specified Trillanes’ alleged “abrasive behavior during Senate hearing” and his “rudeness to authorities” particularly to the Office of the President.
“His pattern of behavior shown in several instances as: a coup plotter during the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 and the Manila Peninsula Siege in 2007; a senator with abrasive behavior during Senate hearing; a Filipino citizen with utter disregard and rudeness to authorities such as the Office of the President is an obvious display of conduct unbecoming of a public official and questionable mental health, fond of creating discord and divisiveness instead of his supposed duties to create policies to establish well ordered society,” the group noted.
Trillanes, one of President Rodrigo Duterte’s arch-critics, has been holed up in his Senate office for over a week now following the revocation of his amnesty.
Duterte, in a televised discussion with his chief legal counsel, Atty. Salvador Panelo, dared the military to hold an uprising after Trillanes claimed that he had gained the support of some soldiers.
However, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana assured that the military is “solidly behind the administration,” noting that Duterte’s challenge was simply a show of confidence in their loyalty. /jpv
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