Thursday, February 08, 2007
Capillas: The 'vote for me or else' routine
By Stephen Capillas
The Lowdown
WHEN I first saw Navy Lt. Antonio Trillanes in a photo showing to all and sundry his certificate of candidacy that he filed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) last Tuesday, I could only wonder what platform of government he would bring to the table come campaign time.
Trillanes, along with former Sen. Gregorio Honasan, is just one of the soldiers turned politicians who are campaigning for your votes on May. There's this running joke about Honasan's campaign posture, with the former senator flashing his infamous grin and urging every Filipino to "vote for him or else."
The "or else" is what I'm alarmed about and considering that Trillanes considers Honasan as his mentor he may assume a similar posture with Filipino voters albeit sung in a different tune: "If you vote for me, I'll do my best to serve you blah, blah, blah, blah. If not, well...." and while he lets his sentence hang in the air, may consider flashing a hint of a smile instead of that dagger look he always gives to anyone whom he considers an enemy.
That dagger look appeared anew in an Associated Press (AP) photo that showed him flashing his COC to everyone in the Comelec office. While one may consider the reasons behind his attempted mutiny as valid, the fact of the matter he went about it the wrong way.
Look, if he was the idealistic soldier he and his comrades in arms claimed to be, then they should have resigned their commissions in the first place and decided to run for public office here and there.
Instead Trillanes and company had to resort to this Oakwood mutiny misadventure that set back the country in terms of economic investments for several years.
If that mutiny occurred at the height of the "Hello Garci" controversy it may have gained public support but back then, it was an ill-timed stunt that only gained the support of the communist movement and their legal allies.
Now that he's running for public office, Trillanes is casting his lot along with an army of other politico hopefuls in the coming May elections. While he may be a more qualified choice than the actors whose faith in their winnability lies in their celluloid celebrity, one shudders as to what he will do should he lose.
Them again, maybe this is all just a case of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Then again, with Trillanes's unpleasant demeanor maybe not.
(For questions and comments, please send to sunspot12002@yahoo.com or warpath1232@yahoo.com.)
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