LP bets to press anti-Arroyo campaign

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Voters haven’t heard the last of the anti-Arroyo rhetoric.

Re-electionist Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who is running the LP slate, said issues related to former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would be among those he would tackle during his campaign for the 2013 elections.

Trillanes, who led two failed uprisings against Arroyo when she was President and he was a Navy officer, was catapulted into the Senate with 11 million votes in 2007 despite campaigning from his detention cell.

Observers have attributed his victory to Arroyo’s unpopularity and the strong sentiment against her rule.

Trillanes said there was still a need to remain vigilant about the former chief executive because her influence and supporters still need to be purged from the bureaucracy.

“That would still be there because the tentacles of [Arroyo] are still rooted in the bureaucracy, which is why we our weeding it out,’’ he told reporters at Club Filipino. “If we relax, they will surely return before you know it.”

He also said in seeking a second term, he would revalidate his mandate and hoped that those who voted for him in 2007 would see that he had fulfilled his duties when he was in the Senate.

Trillanes also said he was not afraid that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile Sr. would derail him during the campaign.

He earlier had a heated exchange at the Senate with Enrile after accusing the latter of trying to railroad a bill due to Arroyo’s bidding. Enrile retaliated by accusing Trillanes of taking China’s side in back-channel talks meant to defuse tension over territorial disputes.

“I trust the people more. Senator Enrile can do what he wants to do. I can’t control it. But I’m not afraid of him. I know him, his personality. He’s afraid of [Arroyo], so why would I be afraid of him?” he said.

President Benigno Aquino III had also frequently criticized his predecessor during his campaign for the presidency in 2010, and kept it up during his incumbency, saying he wanted her to account for her alleged misdeeds when she was in power.

On Monday, as he introduced his senatorial slate, Mr. Aquino took a quick dig at the previous administration by citing alleged anomalies regarding the construction of bridges during that period, and contrasting these with the prompt and relatively cheaper construction of the Quezon Avenue-Araneta Avenue tunnel, which was opened recently.

Also on Monday, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, who is on leave from being the LP president, said the candidates of the administration would face the forthcoming elections with “decency, honor and integrity.”

“That is what the people expect of us and we will not fail them,” Roxas said during the proclamation of the 12 administration candidates at Club Filipino.

He said the candidates, in accepting the President’s endorsement, were promising not to steal or turn their backs on their obligations and on the people. They should be symbols of the straight path and serve with honor, he said.