When I lost my 2007 re-election bid, one of the first congratulatory calls I made was to the detained Sonny Trillanes. In my mind, here was a guy who, without setting one foot out of prison, was granted amnesty, not by one person but by 11,189,671 people.

When he won the reelection in 2013, more people – 14,127,722 million this time – affirmed that the absolution earlier bestowed on him was right.

We should honor the mandate and the trust millions of our countrymen had reposed on Senator Trillanes. If he had committed offenses after Peninsula, if he had broken any law since, then the right course is to charge him, and not to nullify an amnesty that he applied for, recommended by the military, granted to him by the President, and concurred in by Congress.

He should be granted every opportunity to challenge the revocation of the amnesty in complete freedom.
Senator Trillanes attracts controversy when he dabbles in politics. But what is not well known is his immense contribution in policymaking which he conducts without fanfare.

I served in the Cabinet of President Arroyo and I think Senator Trillanes had done time for the mischief he had created during her incumbency.