DAVAO CITY – Former putschist leader and ex-senator Antonio Trillanes IV has declared his intention to run for the presidency, saying next year’s poll would be the most important elections in the Philippines’ history since the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.
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| Antonio Trillanes IV |
“As I often stressed, the 2022 elections would be the most important elections in our nation's history after 1986. Not only our democracy is at stake, our very survival as a country is at stake, too. In just five years, Duterte has been able to destroy our institutions, bankrupted the economy, worsened poverty and corruption, surrendered our interests in the WPS, and promoted incompetence in public service. Worst of all, he made our people accept killings, immorality, indecency and vulgarity as the new societal norm. Truly, we will not survive another six years of a Duterte rule,” he said, referring to presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Carpio’s ambition to replace her ageing father.
“In view of VP Leni's preparations to run for Governor of Camarines Sur in 2022, I, together with the Magdalo group, have decided to convey to the 1SAMBAYAN Coalition to change my status from being an alternate candidate (to VP Leni) to being a principal candidate for President to vie for the Coalition's nomination. This move is necessary for my name to be included in 1SAMBAYAN's selection process,” he added.
But Trillanes, a staunch critic of Duterte, was quick to say that he is not dividing the opposition, adding “there will only be one unified slate to be nominated by 1SAMBAYAN, a pro-democracy coalition led by former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, former Ombudsman Conchita Morales, and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario, among others.
“Just to be clear, I am not dividing the opposition as there will only be one unified slate to be nominated by 1SAMBAYAN, and both VP Leni and I have committed to support and campaign for its nominees. Just to further stress this point, in the event that VP Leni definitively decides to run for President before 1SAMBAYAN picks its nominees in July, I would wholeheartedly step aside and withdraw my own candidacy in her favor,” Trillanes said.
“But until then, we would work on the assumption that VP Leni would run for governor of Camarines Sur and, thus, we could now start our own preparations focusing on the development of policy prescriptions to solve the different problems of our country, particularly on pandemic response; economic recovery and poverty alleviation; peace and order/security sector reforms; anti-corruption/governance reforms; universal healthcare; foreign policy, including WPS (West Philippine Sea issues with China),” he added.
Trillanes said Duterte and his cohorts are determined to hold on to power to continue their “wicked” ways. “They also know that if the opposition wins, they would go straight to prison for the crimes they have committed against our people. But winning for the opposition won't be easy. The pro-Duterte candidates have vast amounts of resources, the oppressive tools of the State, the subservient local officials, plus the lack of scruples to employ all dirty tricks in the electoral book,” he said.
But the Davao City mayor has strongly criticized 1SAMBAYAN and accused the group of being “authoritarian” for claiming to be a coalition of democratic forces, but chose to reject those who disagree with them. “They sound authoritarian to me. If they want to be successful, they should have called for unity,” Carpio said.
Trillanes has called on Filipinos to fight for democracy. “Having said this, I still have faith that the Filipino people will, yet again, deliver when we need them most. More importantly, I believe that God will not evil prevail again this time. We will have served six years of penance under Duterte by then at baka naman tapos na ang kalbaryo natin,” he said.
Duterte has, many times in the past,
cursed Trillanes, a former Navy lieutenant, and even called him a coward after
he and other mutineers surrendered in November 2007 after a failed coup in
Makati City known as the “Manila Peninsula Siege.” (Mindanao Examiner)
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