Antonio Trillanes

Antonio Trillanes

Antonio "Sonny" Fuentes Trillanes IV (born August 6, 1971 in Caloocan , Metro Manila ) is a former naval officer of the armed forces of the Philippines and politician who has been a member of the Senate since 2007 . The special thing about his election was that he led the election campaign because of the conviction to a prison sentence for mutiny out of prison. This made him the first politician in the Philippines to be elected senator while serving a prison sentence.

Life

Studies and military career

After attending the Elementary School of Sienna College and the High School of the Angelicum School, Trillanes began studying electrical engineering at De La Salle University in 1987 and graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science (BS Electrical and Computer Engineering). He then joined the navy as a midshipman and graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science degree in marine engineering (BS Naval System Engineering) "cum laude" and also received awards in mathematics , physics and electronics .

After completing the military academy, Trillanes went through almost all assignments as a naval officer in the areas as a trade fair and supply officer from April 1995 to May 1996, deck and weapons officer from May 1996 to January 1998, engineer and damage control officer from January 1998 to February 1999 and as a general administrative officer from February 1999 to January and was also acting commander of a patrol gunboat between June 1999 and February 2000. During these five years of service aboard ships, he took part in numerous military operations to enforce the law of the sea against smugglers, illegal loggers, poachers, human traffickers and illegal fishermen in the waters off Batanes , the Ilocos region , Cagayan , Isabela , Zambales , the Scarborough Reef , Quezon , the Bicol region , Palawan , Mindoro , Romblon , Iloilo , Cebu , the Zamboanga Peninsula , the Sulu Archipelago with Basilan and Tawi-Tawi , Davao and Maguindanao .

In addition to the sea services, he was also used as an administrative and personnel officer in the patrol associations of the fleet and from January 2000 to June 2001 as a procurement officer and instructor at the naval training and education command. In the latter use, he initiated a reform of the utility system that resulted in savings of four million pesos .

One of the highlights of his sea operations was his participation in the search for the survivors of the ferry Princess of the Orient , which sank on September 18, 1998 by Typhoon Vicky . 150 of the 388 passengers were killed; 32 passengers were rescued by the Trillanes unit. He also took part in numerous naval operations to support the land forces in operations against Abu Sajaf and other underground movements, as well as 22 naval maneuvers with naval forces from other countries.

After completing these assignments, he completed a postgraduate degree in administrative sciences with a focus on public policy and program management at the University of the Philippines and completed this degree in 2002 with a Master of Science (MS Public Administration) with distinction because of his very good grade point average.

For his numerous services, he was honored with a total of 23 medals and orders and was most recently in the rank of Lieutenant Senior Grade .

Sentenced for mutiny and election to senator

Trillanes achieved nationwide attention and fame when he and Captain Gerardo Gambala led a mutiny of 321 soldiers on July 27, 2003, which went down in Filipino history as the so-called Oakwood Mutiny . To protest against corruption in the government and the armed forces, he and Gambala and the other soldiers occupied the Oakwood Premier Ayala Center in Makati City . After the suppression of the mutiny of this group, known as the Magdalo , he was arrested and imprisoned.

In the elections on May 14, 2007 Trillanes ran from prison successfully for a seat in the Senate as a candidate for the Genuine Oppossition against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with a comparatively small campaign budget . Because of his strong commitment against corruption, he was elected with more than eleven million votes, took eleventh place of the twelve senate mandates to be awarded and was thus a senator.

When he and 25 other defendants for the Oakwood mutiny came to the trial on November 29, 2007 , there was another scandal: Trillanes, the co-defendants and Brigadier General Danilo Lim , who had already supported the previous mutiny, left the courthouse, then occupied The Peninsula Manila , a luxury hotel on Ayala Avenue in Makati City, and called for the overthrow of President Macapagal-Arroyo. After occupying the hotel for six hours, Trillanes, Lim and the other insurgents surrendered to avoid endangering hotel guests.

The insurgents were then detained under the highest security in Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP). On June 27, 2008, the Supreme Court of the Philippines denied Trillanes' motion to attend meetings of the Senate and its committees.

On December 20, 2010, the new President Benigno Aquino III granted him . Provisional amnesty until the final judicial decision in the criminal proceedings against him.

In the 15th  Congress , Trillanes was chairman of the Senate Committees on Amateur Sports Competitiveness and Committee in Civil Service and Government Reorganization .

On May 13, 2013, he was re-elected as Senator for a further six-year term.

Web links

• Senate homepage
• official homepage
• Senator Antonio Trillanes IV: No plans to stop serving the people . In: The Manila Times, December 18, 2011