By: Atty. Marlo T. Cristobal
Trillanes IV is a pimp. Through and through he is; he is into constant pimping in the sense Merriam-webster defines, for consistently being guilty of acts intended “to make use of often dishonorably for one’s own gain or benefit,” or Dictionary.com defines “to exploit” or “to promote” or “a despicable person.”
Consider Trillanes’ checkered past that brought to floodlights his selfish penchant for operations that promote himself and/or his principals for his own gain or benefit, bestowing on him the reputation of attack dog and demolition job artist.
He plotted and led at least three attempts at military takeover of the government to catapult himself to power, but all failed. His mother unit the Philippine Navy dismissed him as a Navy Officer for having posted in its record three sagas of infamy, the
Oakwood Mutiny in July 2003, the Marine standoff of February 2006, and the Manila Peninsula siege in November 2007.
As a Senator, he persisted to be malignant. As FPRD once declared: “Trillanes does not dabble in drugs but in the more lucrative business of prostituting his post to collect retainers from certain individuals.” He was christened “Senator Retainer,” naturally.
Using the prerogatives and facility of his office as a Senator, and in pursuance of his role as a demolition artist for his retained principal, destroyed then Vice-president Jojo Binay as a frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race and ultimately his chances to win the
presidency.
His acting dishonorably did not escape the anger of no less than the Senate President J. Enrile who challenged him to a debate about his inappropriate rendering of services to former President Noynoy without the Senate’s knowledge, for which he was later charged with being a traitor for having secretly met 16 times with officials in Beijing and providing information, which resulted in the immediate occupation of Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands by China in 2012. His character as a person and Senator is more revealed with a fuller disclosure of the details of his skirmish with Sen. Enrile in the Senate proceeding of September 2012. As Sen. Enrile grilled him with sharp and piercing questions on his back-channel talks with China over the then worsening South China Sea situation, Trillanes walked out on him when Sen Enrile was succeeding in exposing his incompetence as President Noynoy’s agent. Sen. Enrile could just exclaim, obviously in disappointment, as Trillanes was leaving the hall, “He can’t take the heat. He’s a coward.”
And true to his bent all the way to foist dishonorable schemes to secure his own gain or benefit, he spread the canard that Leni Robredo was not running for President and he was the substitute. He thus threatened a division in the opposition alliance just to be able to push his personal ambition. In the end, he was forced to seek a Senate seat only. But the voters, enlightened with Trillanes’s despicable character, dumped him this time and put him far down in the 21st spot of the 2022 Senate race.
Now he has the gall to challenge the two acknowledged titans in the world of public service — Senator Bong Go and FPRD by filing plunder cases against them for allegedly facilitating the award of over 100 substantial infrastructure contracts to companies owned by Sen. Go’s father and half-brother.
Closely collaborating with each other for no less than two decades, Sen. Go and FPRD buried themselves in public service works with utmost dedication and diligence to end up achieving a wide-ranging, expansive, and material services and benefits to the people that hardly can be matched by any public servant. Public records exist as the solemn and indelible testament to their blockbuster performance as government workhorses.
Sen. Go is a damn well silent worker, for silence is his wonder drug that propels him to heights of achievements geared towards serving the basic or urgent needs of his constituents. Silent worker is a virtue he developed and absorbed in his psyche in his long service for FPRD commencing in 1998 as the Executive Assistant of then Davao City 1st District Representative and FPRD, trusted aide of Davao City mayor in 2001 until he was catapulted into the presidency in 2016, as Special Assistant to the President. He carried his virtue of silent blockbuster achiever in the Senate after his election as senator in 2019, garnering roughly 21 million votes and placing 3rd overall. This is no mean feat in the matter of advancing through the ranks in government service.
His achievements as Senator remain as sterling and blinding. He authored, co-authored, sponsored and co-sponsored countless bills and laws that were all tailored to meet the basic needs of the common man on the issues of health, medical facilities, safety, food and shelter. Outstanding of all the laws he pushed in the Senate is the shining star law he authored, the Malasakit Center Act of 2019, which provides medical and financial assistance to the indigent and financially incapacitated patients in a quick process — a boon ready for the picking by our poor countrymen.
Sen. Go certainly belongs to the pantheon of prolific and good lawmakers. He makes up the envy of lawmakers. He is silent, yet we see and feel the arduous toil in him.
Now comes a man called Trillanes, a man considered a “bangaw” by the late President Cory Aquino, a fly that enmeshes itself in any form of excrement. As indeed described above, Trillanes is totally enmeshed in dishonorable acts, the very excrement from which he lunges at others to destroy them, in keeping with his universal image as an attack dog or demolition artist for his own gain and/or that of his retained principal.
But Trillanes has absolutely no moral standing, much less the credential or credibility to impugn the person and character of Sen. Go and FPRD. For all their achievements and well-established integrity in the name of public service, Trillanes is just a mere “bangaw” or a bark at the wrong tree of an attack dog and deserves to be ignored — no less.
Trillanes charges are old charges recycled from 2018 when Sen. Go was Special Assistant to the President and were debunked even by the Commission on Audit. Furthermore, the Davao City projects that Trillanes adverted to in his complaint all underwent public bidding like all other public infrastructure contracts.
Thus, even legally, Trillanes plunder charges have no leg to stand on.
