Former coup leader and Duterte foe thrives on pressures

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

After launching his political career from a jail cell, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV believes it could end in a grave thanks to a relentless campaign against his “hit man” President.

But the former Navy officer with a history of coup attempts appears to thrive on the pressures that have come with regularly accusing President Duterte of being a corrupt mass murderer.

“This man is a sociopath and he has the mindset of a hit man,” Trillanes, 46, said on Wednesday, offering a typically incendiary assessment of his rival.

Mr. Duterte won last year’s presidential election on a brutal law-and-order platform in which he promised an unprecedented campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in the country by killing up to 100,000 traffickers and addicts.

He vowed so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that the fish would grow fat from feeding on them, and said he would pardon police officers  if they were found guilty of rights abuses while enacting his drug war.

Since Mr. Duterte assumed office in the middle of last year, the Philippine National Police has reported killing more than 3,800 people while thousands of others have been murdered in unexplained circumstances.

Many Filipinos looking for quick solutions to crime continue to support Mr. Duterte, according to polls, and he enjoys majority backing in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Climate of fear

However, a climate of fear has also emerged, with critics warning the President is determined to silence dissenters and drag the Philippines back into a dictatorship three decades after the Edsa People Power Revolution ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Mr. Duterte has launched tirades against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Commission on Human Rights, Catholic Church and critical media outlets, like the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rappler and ABS-CBN. He and his allies have then started campaigns to  discredit them.

Sen. Leila de Lima, one of the most vocal critics alongside Trillanes, was jailed in February on drug trafficking charges that she said were fabricated. Rights groups describe her as a political prisoner.

On the weekend, the President made Trillanes his new top target. “I will destroy him or he will destroy me,” Mr. Duterte told reporters.

Senate inquiry

This came after Trillanes had the President’s son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, brought before a Senate inquiry last week to face allegations that the latter was involved in drug trafficking.

Trillanes accused the younger Duterte of being a member of a Chinese triad that imported huge amounts of “shabu” (crystal meth) into the country, and challenged him to show a tattoo on his back that allegedly proved he was a member of the gang.

The vice mayor acknowledged he did have a tattoo on his back, but he refused to show it and rejected all accusations against him.

Since the President’s “destroy” remark, his officials and social media supporters have accused Trillanes of hiding ill-gotten wealth in secret bank accounts overseas.

The senator denied those accusations, saying they were an expected part of Mr. Duterte’s counteroffensive, and that worse could come.

“(Mr.)Duterte actually ordered a hit on me. He wants me killed. Aside from the fact he wants cases fabricated so I can be put away (in jail) like Senator De Lima,” said Trillanes, a father of two teenagers.

Even though he has called for so many killings, Mr. Duterte has insisted he will not act outside the law nor allow state-sponsored murders.

Crazy, brave

Trillanes showed no signs in the interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) of being intimidated by Mr. Duterte, likely drawing on his many years of experience in the country’s bare-knuckled democratic ring.

As a young naval officer, Trillanes helped lead two brief coup attempts against then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003 and 2007.

Trillanes and his military allies accused Arroyo of corruption, state-sponsored terrorism and subverting democracy on multiple fronts.

He was jailed for seven years but, in what was widely seen as an anti-Arroyo vote, became the first person to be elected senator while in jail.

Presidential pardon

Mr. Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, an Arroyo critic, pardoned Trillanes and other coup plotters in 2010.

This allowed Trillanes to pursue his Senate career at full throttle and he became well-known for digging up dirt on a range of powerful politicians.

To his supporters, Trillanes became a crazy but brave antigraft crusader.

His critics saw him as a publicity hound chiefly concerned with advancing his political career.

Not running in 2019

Trillanes rejected those accusations, insisting he would walk away from politics when his Senate term ended in 2019 to initially pursue a master’s degree in international relations.

“In this political fight with (Mr.) Duterte, there is no forthcoming election for me,” Trillanes said as he defended his motives.

“And most importantly my life is at stake here. So I believe no political ambition could ever match up to that.” —AFP