Antonio Trillanes IV, the rebel Navy lieutenant who led the Oakwood mutiny but now has been elected senator is far from the “swashbuckling hero that he has styled himself to be.”
And the Filipino people had blundered in voting him into the office.
This was revealed recently in a column by Antonio J. Montalvan II in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, citing findings by another columnist Ramon Tulfo which he said are supported by documentary evidence.
Montalvan said that as a lieutenant senior grade in the Philippine Navy Trillanes was supposed to receive only less than P20,000.00 a month but such is his luxurious lifestyle that he owns a Mitsubishi Pajero, a Nissan Terrano, five Mitsubishi Delicas and a Kawasaki motorcycle.
To maintain his “poor and honest” image he listed BF Homes Caloocan as his address in his certificate of candidacy. It is a house owned by his mother, but he has a posh unit in the Town and Country Club in Executive Village in Antipolo where the rich and the famous converge, Montalvan said.
Trillanes reportedly received financial support from Senator Jamby Madrigal whom the writer labeled as among our confused senators, and the family of deposed President Estrada, Montalvan’s column also revealed.
“His words do not enthrall. His pronouncements are no spellbinders. In fact, I suspect there is nothing between those ears”, Montalvan wrote of Trillanes.
By boasting that he will initiate the impeachment proceedings against President Arroyo, Trillanes only exposed his ignorance of the legislative process, Montalvan also said.
Impeachment proceedings start in the House of Representatives and not in the Senate.
