Oakwood Mutiny

In 2003, Trillanes, then a Lieutenant Senior Grade, along with Army Capt. Gerardo Gambala, led 321 junior officers and enlisted men^[10] of the Armed Forces in a mutiny against the Arroyo administration. Calling themselves the "Bagong Katipuneros" (lit. 'New Katipuneros') but tagged by the press as the Magdalo group, the soldiers occupied the Oakwood Premier Ayala Center (now Ascott Makati), a serviced apartment tower in Makati, to protest the alleged corruption of the administration.^[11]

The mutiny was unsuccessful, lasting only 18 hours. Trillanes and his men were charged in a general court martial. He was detained for nearly seven and a half years.^[12]

Manila Peninsula siege

On November 29, 2007, Trillanes, Brigadier Gen. Danilo Lim, and 25 others charged in relation to the Oakwood mutiny, walked out of their trial and marched in Makati towards the Manila Peninsula Hotel. They seized control of the hotel, which is just a few blocks away from the location of their earlier mutiny. There, they called for the ousting of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. They were joined by former vice president Teofisto Guingona Jr., who called for a "new EDSA."

The attempted coup was over by 5:10 p.m. PHT, however, when government soldiers broke through the hotel. Trillanes and Lim surrendered, reasoning their doing so "to avoid loss of lives."^[13] The siege lasted for six hours.^[14]

Trillanes and his cohorts were arrested by the Philippine National Police and were sent to Camp Bagong Diwa. Among the arrested were journalists from various networks. Defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro defended the journalists' arrests, claiming the officers "didn't know the journalists and may have mistook them as renegade soldiers." The journalists were released soon after.^[15]

Senate

2016 vice presidential campaign

Trillanes declared his intention to run for higher office as vice president in the 2016 national elections.^[23] Running with no president, he endorsed the presidential bid of Grace Poe.^[24]

His campaign was marked by a controversy involving the several paid negative campaign ads against Rodrigo Duterte, including a video showing him dropping the finger.^[25] Described as "black propaganda," Duterte's running mate Alan Peter Cayetano filed a petition to the Taguig RTC to stop the airing of the ads for 72 hours. The petition was granted by court using a TRO.^[26]

Trillanes eventually lost the heavily contested race to Leni Robredo, after garnering more than 800,000 votes.

2022 Senate bid

On October 8, 2022, Trillanes filed his candidacy for senator in the 2022 senatorial election running under the Liberal Party.^[27] Trillanes failed his comeback bid to the Senate after he placed 21st in the official results.^[28]

Criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte

Before the 2016 election, he alleged that former Davao City Mayor and presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte had an account in the Julia Vargas branch of BPI (allegedly Php 2.2 B) according to him.^[29][30] Duterte, later on in his presidency, confirmed the existence of the alleged bank accounts,^[31] but he refused to sign a waiver to dispute the alleged billions of pesos contained therein.^[32]

Likewise Duterte alleged that Trillanes closed his accounts in DBS Bank days before going to Singapore and then showed that there were no such accounts.^[33] However, DBS Bank disputed this and clarified that account closures cannot be done online.^[34]

In an attempt to silence Trillanes's exposés against President Duterte, his administration filed and revived at least 14 cases against Trillanes.^[35] On July 19, 2019, the PNP–Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed charges against Trillanes and other members of the opposition for "sedition, cyber libel, libel, estafa, harboring a criminal, and obstruction of justice".^[36][37][38] On February 10, 2020, Trillanes and 10 others were indicted for "conspiracy to commit sedition" over an alleged ouster plot against Duterte.^[39][40][41]

Revocation of amnesty by President Duterte

On August 31, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Proclamation No. 572, revoking Trillanes's amnesty.^[42][43] Duterte ordered the Department of Justice and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to review all criminal cases in relation to the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and 2007 Peninsula siege.^[42] Shortly after that, Trillanes told to the reporters that he would not evade the case and he also told to Duterte that he is not afraid of him.^[44] The amnesty (Proclamation No 50) was granted by then-President Benigno Aquino III and later issued Proclamation 75 superseding Proclamation no. 50 back in 2010.^[44]

On September 7, the DOJ filed the application for an arrest and hold departure against Trillanes and it was signed at Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 by Acting Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon as "very urgent".^[45]

Opposition politicians expressed condemnation over the revocation of the amnesty: Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano, who also led the mutiny with Trillanes,^[46] calls it "political persecution" of Duterte's critics and he also slammed Duterte for what was called a "clear act of revenge" against Trillanes.^[47] Akbayan Representative Tom Villarin called the revocation "highly preposterous" and "clearly a political vendetta."^[47] On September 7, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said in an interview that the decision against Trillanes is similar to the case of Senator Leila de Lima, who was detained for allegedly violating the drug trafficking law almost a year and a half ago.^[48][49] Supporters of Trillanes gathered outside the Senate and held a vigil.^[50] Duterte severely lambasted Trillanes by describing the latter as "corrupt" and accused him of "abandoning" the military for his personal interests.^[51]

On October 22, The Regional Trial Court in Makati denied the government's petition to have Trillanes arrested, saying the coup d'état case against the senator was already dismissed on September 21, 2011, and that the dismissal was "final and executory".^[52]

In G.R. Nos. 241494, 256660 & 256078 (Sen. Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes IV v. Hon. Salvador C. Medialdea, et al; People of the Philippines v. Antonio F. Trillanes IV, People of the Philippines v. Antonio F. Trillanes IV), the Supreme Court En banc per ponente Maria Filomena Singh ruled on April 3, 2024, that "the amnesty granted to former senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV (Trillanes) is valid and that its revocation through Proclamation No. 572, issued by former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, is unconstitutional grounded on primacy of Article III – Bill of Rights". "I would like to thank the Supreme Court for dismissing Duterte's amnesty revocation in 2018, in wanting to silence and imprison opposition members, Duterte,Salvador Medialdea, Menardo Guevarra, and Jose Calida had committed an abuse of power and extreme stupidity," Trillanes IV posting on his X.^[53][54]