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SENATOR ANTONIO TRILLANES, the fiercest opponent of President Rodrigo Duterte at the Congress, was still a free man six days after the secret arrest of the president. But just. For Mr. Trillanes was shut up in the senate building in Manila, the capital. In theory, it saved him from being stopped by soldiers or policemen hiding outside, ready to pounce. But the senator is used to confrontation. As a junior naval officer, he twice led mutinies against the political establishment of the day. His current situation reminds Filipinos of the episodes of the tyrannical domination of President Ferdinand Marcos, overthrown 32 years ago. For the opposition, Mr Trillanes' situation is the clearest sign, but Mr Duterte is another Marcos in the making.
On August 31, Mr. Duterte signed a proclamation that annulled an amnesty granted to Mr. Trillanes in 2010, citing technical problems, and ordered his arrest. The amnesty had prevented the prosecution of Mr. Trillanes for leading the two mutinies of young officers of the armed forces. The first time, in 2003, they took over a series of upscale apartments, calling for an end to government corruption. The second, in 2007, they occupied the lobby of a posh hotel. Nobody was killed. Yet the government viewed the mutinies as attempts to overthrow the then president, Gloria Arroyo. The mutineers were therefore prosecuted until his successor, Benigno Aquino, granted them an amnesty.
The edict of Mr. Duterte was made public four days after his signature, while he was on an official visit to Israel. Mr. Trillanes reacted in his usual style by saying, "Mr. Duterte, you are a coward. You have waited for your departure before publishing your proclamation. This is a clear case of political persecution, but I will not back down. A time of judgment will come for you and your henchmen. "Mr. Trillanes said he would challenge the proclamation in the Supreme Court.
The senator has long been a thorn in Mr. Duterte's foot. He accused the president of hiding unexplained wealth and approved a statement at the International Criminal Court in The Hague requesting that Mr. Duterte be prosecuted for encouraging the killing of thousands of drug traffickers and alleged users. The president's spokesman denied that Mr. Trillanes was persecuted simply for objecting to Mr. Duterte, saying the president was only complying with the law. "The past has finally caught up with Senator Trillanes," he said.
Mr. Trillanes is not the first leading critic of Mr. Duterte to have problems. Senator Leila de Lima is already behind bars, accused of being part of a network of politicians and drug traffickers that the president says wants to destroy. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was fired for technical reasons after she opposed the war on drugs. But how much Mr. Duterte was involved in their elimination is trouble. Ms. de Lima was accused by state prosecutors of extorting money from drug traffickers while she was minister of justice to pay for her campaign for the Senate. (She denies that.) In the case of Ms. Sereno, it was her own colleagues in the Supreme Court who got rid of her. But many observers are struggling to see anything other than the presidential chagrin in the action against Mr Trillanes.
