Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, is one of the senators who rose to power in a not-so peculiar way. His political career started with an issue, as one would remember. The Oakland Mutiny in 2003 did not popularized his name, but also enlightened him to pursue a more serious position in the official Philippine government. He first ran for office in 2007 and has successfully won. And that served as the beginning of his Senatorial experience. So, to refresh our memories, here’s 10 things one must know about Senator Trillanes IV.
Poorest Senator
Among the all 24 senators, Trillanes is among those who ranks at the bottom when it comes to financial status. Having a salary of 35, 000 per month, it is indeed expected that a senator would not make that much; thus it is really more of serving the public without expecting anything in return. It 2015, Trillanes only has a net worth of 5.5 million pesos according to his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net in 2014. These assets are primarily that of his properties in Luzon and Mindanao and three vehicles. However, according to a report written by Rappler, there has been an allegation that Senator Trillanes did not truthfully declared all his assets because he has 8 luxury vehicles in total which was not fully declared. These vehicles, as the report have said, were acquired during Senator’s stay in the Military. In Senator Trillanes’ defense, he said that this is not true, and he has been cleared with this allegation long ago by the Ombudsman.
2. Rescue Operation.
Senator Trillanes, aside from being a former military man and a legislator is also an active community member. He sees to it that he helps with different drives to promote the welfare of his community. One instance where he showed heroism was during his participation in the search and rescue operation of the MV Princess of the Orient in 1998. This incident was a very tragic one that caused a death toll up to 150. There is a total of 388 passengers and almost half were killed. This happened in the Fortune Island in Batangas last September 1998. Senator Trillanes and his troops were able to successfully rescue at least 32 survivors from the tragic incident.
