LAST month's failed six-hour siege of the 5-star Peninsula Manila in Makati City may not have been simply an impulsive move by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to give vent to his frustration for not being allowed to attend Senate sessions for having allegedly led the Oakwood mutiny in 2003. It may have been more than that.
Trillanes, who was at the time attending a court hearing along with his co-accused Oakwood mutineers, walked out of the courtroom to the consternation of court officials and proceeded to the hotel some three kilometers away along with his co-accused, including Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, and took over the hotel while calling for people power to force President Arroyo to resign.
An alleged document recovered from the hotel in the aftermath of Trillanes group's surrender to the police purportedly revealed plans of Trillanes and Lim to head a junta that would establish a new government and take over large media organizations "to free them from the control of big advertisers."
If there is such a document, it gives a new twist to the November 29, 2007 takeover of the Manila Pen, which led to the "re-arrest" of Trillanes and company along with members of media covering the incident who were handcuffed and detained for investigation. The cavalier treatment of journalists at the scene raised a loud howl from the media community long after they were released.
And now, this. A document detailing the creation of a junta led by Trillanes and Lim. The mere mention of the word "junta" ought to send shivers down the spines of media people who will be having visions of junta-ruled Myanmar where there is no press freedom.
Moreover, only the new leaders like Trillanes and Gen. Lim "would be allowed to appear at the helm during the proclamation" of the new government, according to the document, while traditional politicians--especially the so-called 'presidentiables'-- "should stay in the background." The document is entitled "Proposed Program".
For trapos like Senators Manuel Villar, Mar Roxas, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda et al to stay in the background with the presidential polls only two-and-half years away would be unthinkable. Should such a document be proven authentic, these aspirants to the presidency shall have suddenly discovered that a colleague whose victory in the last senatorial poll has so far proved pyrrhic had other plans for them. It's a disturbing thought as they look forward to 2010. To traditional politicians, "junta" is a dirty word.
