Losing out on all facets

FRONTLINE

By Ninez Cacho-Olivares

Sen. Antonio Trillanes has admitted that he planned a coup against Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile, and apparently is still working to have him ousted, except that after that expose made by Enrile on his traitorous back channeling ways, Trillanes could not count on his co-coup plotters to back him up.

His privilege speech was probably timed for him to call for all seats in the Senate being declared vacant, and used the privilege speech on the Camarines Sur bill dividing the province into two with Enrile being painted as a bully and a lackey of former president Gloria Arroyo.

What he didn’t realize was that Enrile had the goods on him on his clandestine meetings with Chinese officials, where his derisive and treasonous comments against the Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and the country itself, made during the Beijing secret talks, and reconstructed by then Philippine Ambassador to Beijing, Sonia Brady were exposed.

With Trillanes, who has been making the media rounds to justify his actions on the clandestine meetings with the Chinese, yapping his mouth off and vowing to oust Enrile from the Senate presidency, he mentioned certain names of senators who he said are likely to support his coup against Enrile, such as the Nacionalista Party senators, naming Manny Villlar, and the Cayetanos, as well as Liberal Party senators, such as Franklin Drilon, although they all denied having a hand in the coup plot of Trillanes, with  senators dumping Trillanes while expressing their support for Enrile, although chances are, they were in on the coup despite their denials.

But Trillanes isn’t through yet. He wants to destroy Enrile by calling him a lackey of Gloria Arroyo and a bully, both of which are not likely to work with the public.

What Trillanes has not gotten into his noggin is that Gloria Arroyo is no longer a hate object in this  senatorial campaign. She is as passe as Ferdinand Marcos, both of whom became hate objects by the opposition in their time, and used by opposition forces to generate protest votes that would benefit them.

But elections will be in 2013, and not 2007. Not even in 2010 was Gloria Arroyo the protest factor in getting Noynoy to win the presidency. It was due to the wave of sympathy that was generated by the yellow TV networks over the death of Cory Aquino. Gloria can no longer be used as a protest vote factor.

Trillianes won his senatorial seat because it really was a protest vote then against Gloria in 2007.

Truth to tell, Trillanes and his group lobbied a long time for Erap Estrada to include him the list of the opposition senatorial candidates, with Estrada sacrificing his son, JV’s slot for him, and campaigned for Trillanes.

After he won, Trillanes did not even bother to thank Erap for his support. That’s the kind of person Trillanes is.

And if he thinks that claims of the Gloria factor behind Enrile’s alleged push for the passage of the Camarines Sur split bill are going to destroy Enrile, whether through a coup or politically, Trillanes should have another think coming.

Enrile is on his last term. He is no longer facing reelection. Enrile, no matter what the yellows think of him, cut off from Marcos a day before he staged that mutiny and was willing to die for his country. He can hardly be pressured by Gloria on this silly claim of Trillanes about gerrymandering of Camarines Sur. Even that won’t fly with the voting public.

Just how many Filipinos really care whether Camarines Sur will be divided into two provinces, except perhaps for the people in Camarines Sur, as that is their future — whether divided or not.

Trillanes, by coming up with that attack on Enrile and Cam Sur, has already lost the votes from Cagayan and Camarines Sur and with Erap also campaigning against Trillanes, he may just not make it as senator the second time around, especially if Enrile goes all out during the campaign and exposes him as a traitor to the country, a liar and a Chinese agent.

In the end, it’s a credibility and integrity question. Who has the credibility and integrity between Enrile and Trillanes?

Certainly not Trillanes, who has been unmasked as a liar, a fraud and an unpatriotic Filipino, willing to sell the country down the river.