PHL could do without Trillanes -- Binay

From: manilastandardtoday.com

Vice President Jejomar Binay yesterday said the country could do without the likes of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who is running for re-election next year.

Binay, who heads the opposition United Nationalist Alliance, took Trillanes to task for disrespecting Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario.

After his role as a back-channel negotiator with China was exposed, Trillanes accused Enrile of being a lackey of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo. He also called Del Rosario a traitor.

It was Enrile who helped Trillanes, who had led several failed coup attempts against Arroyo, get out of jail and serve his first term as senator.

Binay said he was saddened by Trillanes’ statements against Del Rosario, who was “correctly guiding” the country’s foreign policy.

Binay said being disrespectful appeared to be part of Trillanes’ personality. He noted that Trillanes showed the same lack of courtesy when he interrogated the late Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes.

In a separate radio interview, Trillanes urged Enrile to keep quiet and challenged him again to file a case against him if he felt he had committed a crime.

Trillanes insisted that, as a back-channel negotiator, he did not need to clear any of his actions with Del Rosario, even though the Palace had said he had no blanket authority to make any deals.

Trillanes reiterated that Enrile was pressuring senators to pass a bill that would split the province of Camarines Sur, a move that he said would benefit Arroyo.

He said Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III and Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada called him Monday last week and asked him to withdraw his opposition to the bill so it could be passed in time for the filing of the certificates of candidacies for the next election.###