After Senate stint, Trillanes says he plans to teach in college, graduate studies

FILE: Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (Photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

After serving as a lawmaker for two consecutive terms, what will Senator Antonio Trillanes IV do next?

Trillanes, who is expected to end his 12-year Senate stint in June, answered this question during the “Kapihan sa Senado” on Thursday, January 17.

“Plano ko magturo (I’m planning to teach),” he told reporters.

The senator said he is eyeing to teach subjects on governance and public policy. Trillanes has not yet decided on which schools he will be teaching, but said he plans to lecture college and graduate students.

“Well, I’d like to believe na marami naman tayong masha-share sa mga kabataan, maituturo sa kanila (that I can share and teach a lot of things to the youth),” he stressed.

With only a few months remaining on his term, Trillanes was also asked by the media if he still has some big revelations to disclose.

In response to this, the senator said he hopes that the resolutions he filed that seek investigations on alleged anomalies of some former and incumbent government officials will be addressed.

“For example ‘yung kay [former Special Assistant to the President Christopher] Bong Go, ‘di ba (right)? ‘Yung mga construction company nung pamilya niya na nakapangalan mismo sa kanya, kay Bong Go mismo, na naging recipient ng billions of pesos ng government projects (His family’s construction company, which was named after Bong Go himself, that became a recipient of billions of pesos of government projects),” he said.

He also mentioned Solicitor General Jose Calida, whose security firm, Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Incorporated (VISAI), reportedly won multimillion-peso government contracts.

Trillanes also told the reporters that he indeed learned a lot during his “very worthwhile experience” in the upper chamber.

“Nakita ko ‘yung (I was able to see) internal dynamics of lawmaking and a collegial body like the Senate, how you make things happen,” he shared.

“May mga frustrating moments, meron ding rewarding moments ‘pag nakapasa ka ng batas na nagbenepisyo ‘yung mga ordinaryong mamamayan at ramdam nila ‘yon. (There were frustrating moments, there were also rewarding moments wherein you were able to pass a law that ordinary people benefitted from and they felt it) It’s particularly rewarding,” he continued.

The solon was also not closing his door on a possible Senate run in the future.

“Personally, I don’t see that happening, but we’ll see how it goes kung saan tayo dalhin ng tadhana (wherever destiny will bring us),” Trillanes said.

Trillanes, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, become a senator in 2007, with 11 million people voting him into public office due to his strong anti-corruption advocacy, according to his profile on the Senate’s website.

The former mutineer made headlines last year when Duterte voided the amnesty given to him through Proclamation No. 572. He is now facing legal battles such as a grave threats complaint and libel cases.