Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
“The (signatories) were just used,” Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said on Friday as he downplayed the full-page advertisement by a group of Davao-based Philippine Military Acade my (PMA) alumni, who said they were “ostracizing” him and recommending his immediate ouster from the PMA alumni association for committing acts “contrary to the PMA’s motto of courage, integrity and loyalty.”
“I don’t give credence to that (statement) since I was informed that the signatures (on it) … were from an October 2017 meeting,” Trillanes told reporters at the Senate.
In fact, the senator said, some PMA alumni had “expressed regret as to why they were being used in politics by their supposed allies.”
“It’s very clear to me that those Davao-based (PMA) officials were the ones who became close to (President) Duterte. For me, go ahead, we’ll roll with the punches for the time being,” Trillanes added.
Malacañang described the ad as an assurance of the military’s support for the Duterte administration.
“The (statement) reflects the overall sentiment of the military,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said of the advertisement published on Friday.
Roque was also reacting to remarks made earlier this week by ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who said that the President’s recent revocation of Trillanes’ amnesty without consulting the military was “very dangerous” and could “divide” the Armed Forces.
“Its implication goes very deep and is alarming. It means that instead of the Armed Forces being united, it would be divided and there would always be the concern that what has been closed could still be opened,” Sereno said.
Collective stand
In the statement that bore more than 90 signatures, the Davao-based group said it was reiterating its “collective stand ostracizing Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV and ousting him as PMAAAI member for conduct unbecoming of a public official, hereby putting in bad light the PMA ideals of ‘courage, integrity and loyalty,’ a disgrace to the Alma Mater, a great embarrassment to its alumni and a very unworthy role model to the Cadet Corps Armed Forces of the Philippines.”
The signatories called out Trillanes for his “obvious display of conduct unbecoming of a public official and questionable mental health.”
They said he was “[fondness for] creating discord and divisiveness instead of his supposed duties to create policies to establish a well-ordered society.”
They cited his “alleged treasonous acts when he conducted backdoor negotiations with China in 2012.”
While describing the ad as part of “a healthy democratic exercise,” Trillanes urged his fellow PMA alumni “to always stick to your moral compass.”
“You know right from wrong. We’ll see each other in better times … when Mr. Duterte is no longer in power,” he said.