Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Wimps. Lapdogs.
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV used these words to describe his colleagues, accusing them of failing to fulfill the Senate’s duty to serve as a check-and-balance system to the executive branch.
“The Senate is the last bastion of democracy but not anymore,” Trillanes said at a news forum in Manila.
“We are like lapdogs of this administration who don’t even like to investigate into its abuses because we are scared,” he added.
Trillanes’ statements on Monday drew mixed reactions from colleagues.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, an independent, said Trillanes was out of touch with reality if he was not hallucinating so much.
“I don’t know where he is coming from and I’m not even sure if he is still rational in his thinking. But one thing I am sure about, he is dead wrong,” Lacson said.
“Calling one’s own colleagues as ‘cowards’ and ‘puppets’ wholesale and without qualifying is the darndest thing he can do,” he added.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III refused to comment.