BY VICTOR REYES

SEN. Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday said he has evidence that Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and national security adviser Norberto Gonzales engineered last Friday’s bombing at the Glorietta 2 mall in Makati City that left 11 people dead and scores injured.

"As a person, and now as an elected lawmaker, I do not just make statements out of pique, or without anything to stand on, or to grandstand," said Trillanes, a former Navy officer who is under detention for leading the short-lived Oakwood mutiny in July 2003, in a statement posted at his website.

Trillanes did not say what his evidence was. He said he would disclose this only before "an independent, impartial and credible body."

He said he got his information "from my own network of informants in the AFP and the intelligence community."

Esperon said he does not want to dignify Trillanes’ allegation. He earlier dismissed the accusations and called for an investigation on Trillanes’ claims.

Trillanes said investigators from the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group have visited him twice since Friday when he first made the allegation.

"But I simply cannot imagine them investigating Norberto Gonzales and Esperon once I give them everything I know. For that matter, did we ever have a truly impartial investigation conducted by the Arroyo administration?"

"I now challenge them to create this independent commission composed of competent and respected members of society to really get to the bottom of this. The victims of this carnage, more than anything else, need justice," he added.

Trillanes also gave a brief background on Gonzales, who he said was one of the "masterminds" of the Light-a-Fire Movement, a group critical of President Marcos which he said was behind a number of bombings that claimed dozens of lives.

"This information is readily available in the Internet and was even documented in the memoirs of Ed Olaguer, one of the leaders of the Light-a-Fire Movement. In short, this man is very much capable of wreaking havoc on our society. He is the true terrorist," he said of Gonzales.

Hours after the explosion last Friday, Trillanes said the incident was perpetrated by Esperon and Gonzales to divert public attention from issues hounding President Arroyo.

Trillanes said the explosion was reminiscent of "Oplan Greenbase" that called for bombings in Mindanao to justify the assault on a secessionist camp several years ago.

The defense department has said Oplan Greenbase was based on a fraudulent document.

PNP chief Avelino Razon said Trillanes’ non-cooperation with the CIDG was "very unfair" not only to Esperon and Gonzales but also to the people who voted for him.

"That shows what kind of a person he is," Razon said.

Interior Secretary and acting political adviser Ronaldo Puno said government is not wasting time on Trillanes’ allegations especially with the strong indication that the Glorietta blast was an accident. – With Jocelyn Montemayor