Trillanes hits campaign trail for first time

CAMPAIGNING in person was a change for Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who said he will leave it up to Cebuanos whether to vote for him in this year’s midterm elections.

“Honestly, I cannot point to anything,” he said in a press conference where he was asked how he won.

“I am completely clueless about what transformed the electorate to support us, to support me,” said Trillanes, who received 11 million votes despite being jailed on rebellion charges in 2007.

“I’ll just continue to present myself, what I accomplished in the past six years and what I intend to accomplish if I’d be given another term. I trust the judgement and the wisdom of the electorate,” he told reporters.

Leading the Magdalo group, Trillanes said he’s counting on the Magdalo chapters in Cebu and the rest of the country as his principal support group.

He said he’s also receiving support from family and friends in politics, business and academe.

Trillanes said he would continue extending financial and project support to Cebu.

He said he gave medical assistance to indigent patients in five government hospitals along with scholarship programs to state universities and colleges.

Trillanes said he’s hoping that the country’s soldiers would support him.

He said he no longer felt discontent within the military ranks.

“Right now, I am in the position to make things happen. I am now the bridge betweent he soldiers and the president. And all their grievances are being vented in the normal democratic process”, he said.

Trillanes is chairman of the Senate committee on civil service and government reorganization, among other bodies. Correspondent Joy Cherry S. Quito