No Strings Attached

From the point of view of a political science major, what is the impact of the 2nd move of the Magdalo group to my own study of political science? What did Trillanes and his group proved after their recent 'taking over' of the Manila Peninsula Hotel? Was there really an advocacy behind this taking over or was this just a move to stir peace and security?

In fact, in 2003, Trillanes and his group seized control over Oakwood. As a result, they were prosecuted for crimes like sedition and rebellion, in both military and civil courts. He is being prosecuted for a conduct at becoming of a member of the AFP in the military court and is being prosecuted for rebellion in the civil court. In both courts, trials are still pending.

In the May 2004 elections, Trillanes ran for senator. He conducted his campaign through propaganda, like the internet because he was detained, and so he cannot personally conduct his own campaigns. What's fascinating here is that despite of his physical absence, he was still able to make it up to top 13 and so he was elected and duly proclaimed as senator of the Philippines. As a senator, he was not allowed by the court to attend sessions in the senate because he was under detention. In the RTC, when he applied for release for him to attend sessions in the senate, the RTC used the case of Jalusjos wherein the Supreme Court ruled "being a congressman does not entitle you to this kind of priviledge". But the critics said that Jalusjos was pronounced guilty(when he won the elections). The difference was Trillanes is presumed innocent because he was not proven guilty, therefore, Jalusjos' case should not be used in his case. Trillanes' supporters insisted that he should be allowed to attend the sessions but the Supreme Court defended that he is facing sedition and rebellion(w/c is usually equivalent to life imprisonment, therefor non-bailable) and so he shouldn't be allowed.

On November 29, 2007, even before his trial started, Trillanes and his group walked out of the court. They walked from the Court of Justice to the Manila Peninsula. So what are the impacts? Nanjan ung nadamay ang media as well as the clients of ManilaPen, and there was an overreaction from the part of the administration. Why? The administration has always been afraid to the military. If you remember in EDSA II, even way back to EDSA I, when the military withdrew support, the martial law ended...when the military withdrew support, Erap left his seat. That's why Gloria was afraid to face those insurgencies.

According to them, it was sedition. The problem here is that it can't be sedition because in the first place, under the Revised Penal COde, sedition needs public uprising. Before you take control over a certain part or certain private property of the govenrnment, you need public uprising. But the taking over of the ManilaPen happened without public uprising. Was there a civil war or anything in the taking over of the ManilaPen? There was none, so it can't be sedition.

It can't also be rebellion because the Magdalo group does not really seek to take governance over the Philippine Islands. All they just wanted was to oust Gloria. They are not saying that they will take place if Gloria is removed from her seat. They are pointing na magkakaroon ng bagong liberato, but they aren't saying that it will come from them.

Media, the police stated upon justifying curfew is that media had been the hindrance on their plan to get inside the hotel.(In the Articles of War-the media is regarded as innocent person, therefore protected. So kung may gumalaw sakanila sa gitna ng enkuwentro..they would be liable to the International Courts of Justice). The media defended that before they were allowed to go out, the military began throwing teargas, w/c prevented them from escaping.

Police Operations. What is wrong here? First, this is supposed to be strictly a police matter. Internal peace and security is for the police. External peace and security like abu sayyaf or for example Iraq would be having a war with the Philippines, then that would be the time for the AFP to take place. If it's in the waters..there are the marines(because we do not have what they call as the 'navy'). If it's is the air..there is the airforce. What happened was the police was the second in line and the front liners were the marines. So, what is wrong here? It is the presence of the marines. Why? Because the ManilaPen isn't located in the waters.! So why marines? Then they let the Special Action Force to handle the job. This SAF has no training on what a police should do. The job of the police is to negotiate with the hostagetaker(for example) to surrender and release his hostage. That is the job of the police. The critics said that it should be the job of the police.
Next is that Trillanes walked out from court to the ManilaPen, which is about 4blocks or more, but nobody stopped him. The question was..where are the Makati Police?Where are the Philippine Police? You can't say that he wasn't recognized because hello! Trillanes is a senator, he is a public figure, therefor it would definitely be impossible for him to be unrecognized. These were the anomalies surrounding the escape.

Then there was a curfew. The public was threatened because this might be a prelude to martial law, which i think Gloria is intelligent enough not to impose because it will be tantamount to self destruction. Before the curfew, it was said that there were 3 who escaped. The weird thing here is that the whole AFP were there but still, 3 managed to escape. According to the report, the police saw a waiter going to the carpark carrying some foods, but nobody followed him. Well, we don't know the machinations of the AFP but still, you can see that there is something wrong. So un, the curfew was imposed. The public reacted that there was a media blockout(kasi the media still needs to cover some emergency cases like accidents, etc.). They were allowed naman but before they pass, there were lots of scrutinies, because according to the police, the 3 who escaped pretended as media persons. So what happened? Guingona was arrested. Trillanes was arrested. The media men were arrested because the police believes that the 3 who escaped might be one of them. If it is so, then why would you arrest Ces Drilon? Why would you arrest Sandra Aguinaldo? Meaning to say, there were lots of irregularities regarding the operating procedures of the police, of the military, of the marines, with respect to the situation.

So, where in political science would I relate it? This is actually an interplay of the executive, legislative and judicial branch of the Philippines. Since Trillanes&his group are memers of the AFP, they are subjected to the control and supervision of the Chief Executive. Legislative because Trillanes is both a member of the AFP and of the Senate.(accdg. to Biazon, they were helping Trillanes to be updated on to what is happening in the senate). So what is the implication here? The judiciary is passive. It remains inactive unless cases are filed. Going back to the question.. What is the implication of this situation to the bigger sphere of the dynamics of the political subdivisions of our own government. The only message that Trillanes was able to send was that: "You can always walk out from trial but you will always submit to the forces of the military. Why? Trillanes walked out from his trial. The problem was he wasn't convicted of final judgement, so what he did was not really escaping from prison, so a possible offense was contempt of court. The person who should be given charges here were those who were assigned to look after him, which is Infidelity in the Custody of Prisoners. Kasi.. bakit nakatakas..?! If you were the police and you saw Trillanes marching the streets of makati..ano gagawin mo? Siyempre your initial reaction is to go after him and say "hey,stop..etc", right? But then, nobody did that. Kaya ang posibleng response ng tao e magaksabwat lahat.
Then when a gun was pointed..his excuse was that there were civilians in the place. Ayaw niya daw madamay ung mga sibilyan. The point here is that... It was his second time to compell for GMA's resignation yet you failed. Since it was your second attempt then you should have stood on your advocacies. Sana pinanindigan mo na. Cause if he died on that moment, he would have been the hero of the land. It might lift the public's emotions to cause GMA to leave her seat of power. But since he surrendered because a gun was pointed the only message that i absorbed from what he did was... "You can always walk out on your trial and escape the courts of justice, but you will always surrender when a gun is pointed on your head".

Still human nature..he was fighting for something big..and he failed.

uvm