Trillanes tells Bong, Jinggoy: Man up, endure life in jail

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has this piece of advice for his colleagues who are now complaining of their condition behind bars: man up.

In an interview on ANC's Headstart on Tuesday morning, Trillanes said Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. should embrace their new life in jail and learn from it.

"I believe that they just have to man up. They'll have to make up their minds if they want to fight this through," Trillanes told program host Karen Davila.

"They'll just have to grin and bear it (condition in jail). There is no going around it. They'll just have to use this experience to hopefully come out as better persons in the end," the senator also said.

Revilla and Estrada surrendered on Friday and Monday, respectively, after the Sandiganbayan ordered their arrest for their plunder and graft charges in connection with the pork barrel scam.

Revilla and his family have been complaining of the heat, rats and roaches inside his cell at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

Trillanes, who spent seven and half years in detention for his role in the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 and again in 2007 with the Manila Peninsula Hotel siege, said he suffered the same condition before but he never complained.

"We have dealt with the same rats before and the heat. But there's this saying: if you do the crime, you do the time," Trillanes said.

"I did not get to whine about it. You just have to take it all in," he added.

Trillanes did not directly answer in the affirmative when asked if Revilla and Estrada are receiving special treatment while in jail.

But he said the treatment his colleagues are receiving is the same being given to detainees in other countries.

"I believe we should pressure the government not to level down the treatment of the three senators, but [we should] pressure the government to level up the treatment of other detainees across the country," Trillanes said.

"We are promoting a just and humane society and to treat detainees like dogs is not the way to go. We have to improve our detention facilities and construct new ones to make sure that these detainess will not lose their dignity while in jail," he added.

Trillanes said Senate minority leader Juan Ponce Enrile should not be detained in a common detention facility since he has special needs due to his old age.

"You don't treat very senior citizens that way," Trillanes said, suggesting that Enrile can be detained in a hospital or facility that can provide his medical needs.

The three senators are accused of amassing kickbacks from the pork barrel funds allocated to bogus foundations of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles with the help of government officials and agencies. -Louis Bacani