kung sinosino na ang narinig natin sa radyo’t TV from both sides, yes or no: does the president have the power to revoke a grant of amnesty?  may kapangyarihan ba si duterte na bawiin ang amnestiya na ibinigay iginawad in-award ni pNoy kay senator trillanes some 8 years ago?

tony la vina and rene saguisag, even nene pimentel and ramon tulfo, are aghast that the president dares, while harry roque and rex robles and robin padilla are hardly surprised — after all, trillanes has been such a persistent thorn in their beloved president’s aching sides, and there ARE consequences.

son paulo and daughter sara’s hubby have already chimed in with serious libel suits against the senator.  hindi sanay ang mga duterte na china-challenge sila in public, napipikon sila, lalo pa ngayon na pangulo na si digong at global ang stage.  proceed at your own peril, ika nga.  mabangis pating watchdog si solgen calida, whose sense of ethics is kinda exceptional, as in, merong exceptions to the rules.  puwede ring exemptional, as in, exempted siya?

but the one i’m  waiting to hear from is senator gringo honasan, the original coup plotter (at least 5 daw, excluding EDSA Uno) in the time of cory, the worst of it in 1989 when i first heard of oakwood, one of the buildings taken over by rebel soldiers in the heart of makati’s business district.  THAT was a violent attempt to grab power from cory, innocent civilians died, yet very early in FVR’s presidency, he granted honasan amnesty.  in contrast, not a single shot was fired in the oakwood mutiny led by trillanes with, it is said, honasan’s blessings.

tama ba, sa tingin ni gringo, itong ginagawa ni duterte at ni calida kay trillanes?  does trillanes deserve to be treated differently from every other rebel soldier who has been granted amnesty?  gringo’s silence is deafening.  in contrast, fellow reformist and mutineer now duterte apologist rex robles is so maingay.   but wait.  has robles been granted amnesty?  or is he still angling kasi for one?

rex robles is among those in the list of RAM members who asked Duterte for amnesty in august 2017, just a year ago, na sinamahan pa ni honasan.  napagbigyan na ba ng presidente ang hiling?  kung hindi pa, bakit hindi siya nakakulong pero ibig niyang ipakulong si trillanes?  does the grant, and sustainability, of amnesty hinge on all-out support for the president, right or wrong?  and can the president also void FVR’s grant of amnesty to honasan in case gringo reverts (we wish?) to rebel mode?

and what about duterte himself?  di ba’t late and super-convoluted ang pag-file niya ng certificate of candidacy back in october 2015?  sasabihin siyempre ng mga ka-DDS na the people have spoken, they voted for him anyway.  but the same can be said of trillanes.  sabi nga ni former senator rene saguisag:

As jurors, the people acquitted Trillanes in 2007. With scarce resources, political detainee Sonny became a senator…

… Anyway, what requires an amnesty in our scofflaw nation is one forgiving 1,500,000 personnel in government who have not complied with Sec. 7 of R.A. 3019, of Senator Turing Tolentino, requiring them to report annually their income earned, expenses incurred, and taxes paid. This requirement, SolGen Calida hammered on in ousting Chief Justice Meilou Sereno but did not himself comply with. Haz lo que digo, no lo que hago? Do as I say, not as I do?