By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
EXACTLY six years ago on Monday, July 27, Army Capt. Arlene Trillanes turned on her television set to see some 300 military officers and enlisted men taking over the Oakwood Premier Hotel in Makati.
Fear struck her heart when she saw her husband, Navy Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV, leading the band of rebels, accusing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of graft and corruption, and demanding that she step down.
Arlene’s life turned upside down that day. Then one month pregnant with their third child, she has since had to deal with her husband languishing in detention and raising their two children mostly on her own. In 2006, while she was pursuing graduate studies in Australia, her husband ran for public office. By the time she returned to Manila, he had been elected senator. And in 2007, she went through a repeat of the Oakwood ordeal when her husband led the siege at Manila Peninsula.
So in Arroyo’s final year as president, Arlene Trillanes is hoping her family and those of other soldiers who took part in Oakwood would soon be able to lead normal lives and pursue their dreams unencumbered by prison restrictions.
No inkling
Arlene had no inkling about the plans that turned into the Oakwood mutiny. She was then a member of the Corps of Professors at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City teaching psychology, sociology and information technology. He was in Manila taking graduate studies at the University of the Philippines.
She called him up the evening of July 26 to relay the good news that she was pregnant. He only mentioned that he was receiving threats of some sort.
The next time they talked was late the next evening as the 19-hour siege was coming to an end. He asked about the children, Seth and Thea, then five and four years old, and told her not to worry.
A few more days passed before Arlene and the children could visit Trillanes in detention at Camp Aguinaldo. Like a scene from a movie, Arlene recalls, they spoke to each other across steel bars.
Behind bars
“This is Papa’s new office,” she told the kids.
The script didn’t fly as the children asked their father, “Why can’t you come out?”
They had to be told that Trillanes was in jail because he did something that Arroyo did not like.
The next question was, “When are you coming out?”
Trillanes answered, “In a few months.”
Arlene bore the heartache, but it was nothing compared to what happened in early 2004, when her son, Alan Andrew, then 21 days old, died. She could no longer hold back the tears as she held her son’s lifeless body.
‘Here we go again’
The months stretched into six years. During that time, the group, which media had christened “Magdalo” because its symbol resembled that of the faction of the revolutionary Katipunan led by Emilio Aguinaldo, was torn and tested by intrigues and personal differences.
Of the more than 300 that went to Oakwood, majority have been reinstated, a number have found jobs in civilian law enforcement agencies, while others have joined the private sector. Only 16, including Trillanes, remain in detention.
But detention has not dampened the group’s outrage over what they believe is Arroyo’s misgovernance. On Nov. 29, 2007, four months after being elected senator, Trillanes, with Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and 10 other soldiers, led another show of defiance against the Arroyo administration. They marched from the Makati Regional trial Court, where their cases were being heard, toward the Manila Peninsula Hotel.
Arlene was in the PMA conference room when she saw the siege at the Manila Peninsula unfolding on television. All she could mutter was, “Naku po, nandito na naman tayo (Here we go again).”
For the children, however, the Manila Pen incident was no different from the episode at Oakwood. “Parang wala lang. Nothing new. Kulong na naman (It’s like nothing happened. He’s still in jail),” Arlene said of the children’s nonchalance toward their father being in yet another standoff with government forces.
There was never any recrimination between Arlene and Trillanes. She said she believed him when he said what he was doing was for love of country.
A wife’s dilemma
There was a time during the earlier days of Trillanes’ incarceration that Arlene wanted to resign from the military service, torn as she was between her professional duty and loyalty to her husband. But her PMA superiors, who she said were very considerate, dissuaded her.
In 2006, one year before the elections, Arlene got a grant to study at the University of South Wales in Australia. Before she and the children left, the Magdalo group had decided to explore electoral politics to further their advocacy of reforms and good governance.
Arlene was initially opposed when Trillanes was chosen to lead the soldiers’ foray into politics. But she acknowledges that her husband’s electoral victory, obtained behind bars with a minimal budget, is a vindication of Oakwood cause. It was a resounding protest vote against Arroyo.
“Even I did not expect he would win,” Arlene said. “The fact that he won despite his situation was an indication that there was a significant number of the population who supported the cause that he, along with those who were also detained for being in Oakwood, fought for.”
Trillanes remains in detention, however, and is barred from attending Senate sessions. Arrangements are being made so he could participate in the sessions through teleconferencing, hopefully by September.
In the meantime, much as Arlene tried to carry on as usual in the PMA, one incident made her realize that things are not the same anymore.
Female officers at the PMA are usually tapped to escort wives of visiting generals. One time, Arlene was assigned to escort the wife of a visiting foreign military attache. On the day of the visit, however, PMA officials saw members of the media and relieved her of this duty. She felt so bad she cried.
“That’s when it dawned on me that I’m a wife of a rebel soldier. I felt discriminated against,” Arlene said.
By way of explanation, one of her superiors pointed to her unique situation of being an officer and wife of a senator. From then on, she was excluded from escorting tasks.
Last year, she resigned from the military service to devote more time to her family. The Trillaneses plan to put up a foundation that would focus on education.
Show of support
Arlene is touched by the continuous show of support to the Magdalo group and the warm reception that she gets from people she barely knows. “Somehow it brightens what would otherwise be a very bleak period in our families’ lives,” she said.
Trillanes, for his part, has inspired more Magdalo officers to pursue their advocacies through the electoral arena. Former Marine Capt. Gary Alejano is running for mayor in Sipalay, Negros Occidental. Former Navy Ltsg James Layug will seek a congressional seat in the second district of Taguig. Former Air Force Lt. Ashley Acedillo is running for Congress in the first district of Cebu.
As for the Trillanes children, they have nothing grand planned if their father is finally set free. Arlene once asked them where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do when their father is released.
Thea answered, “Sa bahay lang (Just home).” Seth said, “Maglalaro kami ng computer ni Papa (I’ll play the computer with Papa.)”