Trillanes blames government for Glorietta 2 bombing

By Ronron
October 20, 2007

Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV blamed the Arroyo government for the deadly blast at the Glorietta 2 Mall in Makati City last Friday that killed nine people and wounded about a hundred others.

In a press statement released late Friday, Trillanes said he “believes” the incident “is the handiwork of Malacanang Particulary, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon,” Jr.

“This blast is most likely another tactic of the administration to divert public attention away from the controversies hounding GMA,” Trillanes said, referring to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is currently facing allegations of bribery of local executives, irregular deal with ZTE Corporation, and the unresolved 2004 electoral fraud.

“It very looks like a repeat of Oplan Greenbase perpetrated by the administration in 2003 in Mindanao, where a series of bombings rocked the island, killing innocent people and destroying property. Those bombings remain unexplained to this day,” the former Navy officer went ont.

“Like Oplan Greenbase, this blast is a pretext for assorted measures GMA may again concoct, like exercise of emergency powers, possibly even Martial Law, to justify repressive actions against the people to clamp down on peaceful protests and subdue the rising public clamor for her to resign,” said Trillanes.

But the government took offense of Trillanes’ allegations.

“It’s about time we stop allowing people to make irresponsible statements so the statements of Senator Trillanes will be investigated formally,” Gonzales said Saturday.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) will take the statements of Trillanes from his detention cell at the Philippine Marine Brig in Taguig City.

“In politics, there is fair game, and there is unfair game. The tragedy that befalls people like this is not fair game. So I would implore our political opposition to please exclude this tragedy from their laundry list of issues that they’re going to fire at the administration. This is demeaning of our political system. It is demeaning of the political environment. And I think it demeans themselves. So, if they can remain on a more Statesman-like level so that this unfortunate tragedy will not be exploited for their personal gains, it will do them well,” Puno said.

Esperon said he is supporting the government’s move to take Trillanes’ statements, calling the incident as a “very serious matter” to be “played around” by the Senator.

“Formal statements should be taken from people who make allegations,” Esperon said.

But while Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol called Trillanes’ action as “seditious,” he said they do not intend to prosecute the lawmaker.

“There is no intention to prosecute him. There is intention to get the necessary evidence so that we can properly investigate… We’ll just leave him that way. We will not file any criminal case. This is just for investigation,” Apostol said.

Gonzales pointed out that the Oplan Greenbase, which is being mentioned by Trillanes, has long been denied by its authors.

“Those who spread that rumor already apologized in public… They’re saying it’s a fake document. And I don’t understand why a Senator would keep on using a fake document as basis for his actions,” Gonzales said./DMS