EXPLAINER: Why Trillanes abstained from a 2016 Senate vote that ousted De Lima as justice committee chair
- Yes, Trillanes abstained from the Senate vote that ousted De Lima as justice committee chair in 2016. But no, he didn’t abandon her as he was her “fiercest defender” against then President Rodrigo Duterte.
What led then Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to abstain from a 2016 Senate vote that resulted in unseating Sen. Leila De Lima as chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights?
Her removal was a result of her investigation into the alleged extrajudicial killings in then President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, including the existence of the so-called Davao Death Squad.
The question was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by “DAVAOMIGRANT” last Sunday who was wondering why Trillanes and then Sen. Ralph Recto abstained from voting on the Senate majority’s move to remove De Lima.
DAVAOMIGRANT’s tweet said that he was not concerned if Recto abstained. But he could not help but wonder why Trillanes, who at that time backed and defended De Lima’s investigation into the killings of drug suspects in Duterte’s war on drugs, ended up doing the same.
On Monday, both De Lima and Trillanes made a simple reply: It was a majority issue that required the resolution of only senators belonging to the majority bloc at that time.
Trillanes belonged to the minority bloc along with Recto and Sen. Francis Escudero, but the latter could not cast his vote because he was absent that day.
“The simple answer is that (Trillanes) was not a member of the Majority. He was a member of the Minority,” De Lima replied to DAVAOMIGRANT.
“The vote for or against my removal was a Majority matter that did not concern (Trillanes) as part of the Minority bloc, Committee chairmanships being exclusively the discretion of the Senate Majority,” she added.
Read: De Lima ousted as Senate justice committee chair
De Lima stressed that there was no question that she and Trillanes were at that time going after Duterte in unraveling the rottenness and abuses of the “killer regime.”
“We all saw that (Trillanes) was my staunchest defender at the height of my persecution,” she said.
Trillanes responded to De Lima’s tweet by thanking her. “Salamat po (thank you), Sen. Leila.”
De Lima was referring to her arrest and detention in 2017 for what she said were trumped up charges leveled against her by Duterte. Three cases were filed against her for allegedly colluding with drug gangs in the National Bilibid Penitentiary. After six years in detention, De Lima was freed on bail in November last year after witnesses in her last case recanted their allegations against her.
She was cleared of all these cases only in June.
Read: After 6 years, De Lima free as court okays bail
Trillanes gave the same explanation as De Lima, telling Inquirer Mobile in an exclusive interview that as a minority member, he, along with Recto and Escudero, had no say in the justice committee chairmanship.
Motion to vacate
The Senate vote arose after then Sen. Manny Pacquiao, reacting to the privilege speech of Sen. Alan Cayetano, moved to declare the committee chairmanship and membership vacant.
Cayetano accused De Lima of painting a negative image of Duterte’s drug war through the Senate inquiry that she was pursuing.
De Lima had presented a witness, a confessed hitman, who linked Duterte to the so-called death squad in his hometown of Davao City when he was its mayor.
De Lima’s ouster was ultimately supported by 16 majority senators at that time—Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel Jr., Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Cayetano, Pacquiao, Panfilo Lacson, Cynthia Villar, Sherwin Gatchalian, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Gregorio Honasan II, Juan Edgardo Angara, Richard Gordon, Joel Villanueva, Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito, Loren Legarda and Grace Poe.
Although part of the majority then, Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Paolo Benigno Aquino, and Risa Hontiveros voted against the Senate motion.
Trillanes refused to make any judgments against his former colleagues despite the explosive testimony given by former Col. Royina Garma before the House quad committee’s investigation into Duterte’s drug war.
Asked whether senators who voted for De Lima’s ouster from the committee chairmanship should acknowledge that they were wrong to do so, Trillanes replied that the 16 senators were not privy to the whole picture of the drug war during that time.
‘Blind to the truth’
He said at that time, some senators were very supportive of Duterte.
“I can understand why some of them were blind (to the truth) or afraid of Duterte,” said Trillanes, adding that when the drug war was being implemented, no one would want to go head-on with the President or be placed on the “target list.”
Last week, Garma told the House quad committee that Duterte had ordered cash rewards for every drug suspect killed by the police during his brutal drug war.
According to the Duterte administration, more than 6,200 suspected drug dealers were killed in the drug war, but human rights groups claim that there were more than 30,000 extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during the six-year antidrug campaign.
Garma’s testimony was one of the explosive ones heard in the ongoing House quad committee’s inquiry into the connection between EJKs and human rights violations, the illegal drug trade and Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators during the Duterte administration.
Read: Garma: Duterte rewarded cops for ‘drug war’ kills
