MANILA – Senator Antonio Trillanes has added a new allegation to his list of charges against Vice President Jejomar Binay. The former claimed on Thursday the latter wanted to head a civilian-military faction during the coup attempt in 2007; marked by the Manila Peninsula siege.
Binay’s camp, however, denies the account of Trillanes.
Trillanes said that at the time that the he and the Magdalo soldiers were mapping out their uprising against the Arroyo government, several politicians – including Binay – purportedly committed to support the mutiny.
In return for his support, Binay to be at the helm of a civilian-military, in the vent of the uprising’s success, Trillianes claimed.
The Senator said, though, that when the events of the uprising were developing, Binay was a no show; possibly due to fear.
“Natakot (He [Binay] got scared.),” Trillianes said.
Binay’s camp retorted that the events happened in the opposite manner, with Trillanes having offered him leadership of a junta, which Binay turned down.
Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla, Binay’s political spokesman, stressed that Binay had no part in the planning of the 2007 coup attempt.
“According to the Vice President, when they brought [up] the idea, sabi niya walang magandang mangyayari dito. Kaya kung nakita niyo, kasama niya si Erap noong panahon na ‘yun. Hindi siya kasama doon sa ginawa ni Sen. Trillanes (According to the Vice President, when they brought [up] the idea, he said nothing good would come out of it. That’s why is you observed, he was with Erap during those times. He was not a part of the activities of Sen. Trillanes.),” Remulla said.
He added that after the failure of the coup attempt, Binay even came to the aid of the soldiers who were affected by their decision to take part in the mutiny against the government by giving them jobs at his piggery in Rosario, Batangas .
“Pagkatapos ‘nung attempted coup d’etat sa Oakwoood at sa Peninsula, humingi ng tulong ‘yung mga sundalong nasalanta, silang mga naapektuhan dahil sa ginawa nila, nawalan ng trabaho, kinupkop ni Vice President ‘yan, tinulungan at binigyan ng trabaho. At ‘yung iba doon, inassign doon para magbantay ng babuyan. Ngayon magpapakita siya ng pictures, ito ay nangyari after the [fact], hindi before the fact. Hindi before Peninsula kundi after lahat ‘yan (When the coup attempt at Oakwood and Peninusula failed, the soldiers who were affected asked for help, those who were affected by their actions, which caused them to lose their jobs, the Vice President took them in, he helped them and gave them work. And some of those soldiers, he assigned to work at the piggery. Now they show pictures, but these pictures were taken after the fact, not before the fact. All of that was not before Peninusula, but after.),” Remulla said in a statement.
“Tinulungan niya lahat ‘yan, humingi ng tulong sa kaniya at nagbukas siya ng pintuan. (He helped them all, they asked him for help and he opened doors for them.),” he added.
Meanwhile, Trillanes claimed that there are numerous stories yet to be told about the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege, and that he would disclose these stories when the time is right.