DEFENSE Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.
yesterday said the Communist New People’s Army is helping in the
senatorial campaign of former Navy Lt. Antonio Trillanes IV in
their areas of influence.
Ebdane made the revelation during a guest
appearance in "The Cabinet Speaks," a forum by the Office of the
Press Secretary which is later aired in government radio and
television stations.
Ebdane, citing an intelligence report, said
indicators showed that "it is probably true because we have
monitored that they are really working for his election." He
also said Trillanes knows the NPA is campaigning for him.
Trillanes has not been able to campaign
outside his Fort Bonifacio detention cell where he is being kept
while undergoing trial in military and civilian courts for his
role in the Oakwood mutiny of 2003.
His petition for bail was also denied
yesterday by Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati regional trial
court for lack of merit. The judge, however, allowed him a
three-hour pass to vote at a Caloocan City polling precinct on
May 14.
Asked whether the NPA assistance to Trillanes
includes funding, Ebdane said: "Hindi mo naman kailangang i-fund
iyan e. Kung meron kang mga organizations, sulat lang naman, you
do not have to spend money."
He refused to give any more details, citing
the security of his source.
Ebdane, in his final message, told soldiers
and leaders of the Armed Forces to think also of the people’s
right to vote when they exercise their right of suffrage.
"Sana ‘yung karapat-dapat ang mahalal pero
kung maipahintulot na makapag-suggest (ako) na yung iboto natin
hindi yung popular but yung nakapagbigay ng produkto, hindi yung
pumasok lang sa pulitika dahil gustong maging pulitiko," he
said.
In denying Trillanes’ petition for bail,
Pimentel gave weight to the prosecution’s argument that the
former’s request is a disguised second motion for
reconsideration of the July 8 and Oct. 24, 2004 order denying a
similar application. "It should be remembered that the order of
this Court, affirmed by the Honorable Court of Appeals, with
respect to accused Trillanes, has already attained finality, and
the present motion... indeed appears to be a second motion for
reconsideration which is not allowed," the court said.
Trillanes had argued that he should be
allowed to post bail, citing the failure of the Department of
Justice to present evidence citing him as a leader of the
rebellious junior officers who seized the posh Oakwood Hotel and
adding that even the lower court and the appellate court had
likewise affirmed his position.
But Pimentel said the court cannot change its
earlier rulings or the appellate court’s decision on the case.
Trillanes will be allowed out of the Marine
brig at Fort Bonifacio from 9 a.m. to 12 noon on May 14 to vote
at precinct 0687B, at BF Homes Phase 1 in Deparo, Caloocan City.
He will not be permitted to diverge from a set itinerary, talk
to the media about his pending case, or deliver inflammatory or
seditious statements against the government.
His counsel, Reynaldo Robles, said his client
plans to appeal the decision at the CA. He also accused the
court of applying a double standard by denying Trillanes what
had been granted Gregorio Honasan, another senatorial candidate
and also an accused leader of the Oakwood mutiny, who was
allowed to post a P200,000 bail and is now out campaigning.
A survey released the other day by the Social Weather Station
showed Trillanes three steps outside the winning circle, in 15th
place. He was in 21st place last month. – Regina Bengco
and Ashzel Hachero
