They hate him for his guts. They dislike his irreverence. But Sonny Trillanes has earned his spurs. He is not a chatterbox, who talks first before he thinks. On the contrary, he thinks first before he talks.
Sonny knows his colleagues in the Senate. He knows them like the palm of his hand. Even from a distance, he could distinguish the fake from the genuine, the competent from the lazy, the intelligent from the dumb and frivolous, and the corrupt from the upright.
Sonny knows how to show respect and admiration for colleagues of substance and integrity. He does it openly. But he would not hesitate to show his disdain for colleagues who pretend to be patriots when the truth is they are just rotten lowlifes, or human above, but fish below.
When, the late Joker Arroyo criticized the expenses his office had incurred while he was in prison for the first three years of his first term, Trillanes did not cower in fear, but retaliated, saying Joker should be ashamed for lawyering for the corrupt GMA in the Senate.
When Jojo Binay challenged him to a debate re the former's alleged plunder, Sonny, in an eyeball to eyeball situation, did not blink and accepted the challenge despite the fact he is not a lawyer unlike Jojo. It was Jojo who blinked first when he chickened out and cancelled the proposed public debate.
Even Juan Ponce Enrile, as Senate president, did not escape Sonny's tirades, when the former assailed him for his back channeling efforts re China issue. Sonny did not hesitate to speak on Johnny's villainous role in history. In the end, it was Sonny who advocated his release from detention for humanitarian grounds, i.e. Johhny is too old for it.
Sonny did not like Migs Zubiri's posturing as an apostle of clean government and good governance, when the truth was Migs cheated to gain a Senate seat. Migs was so incensed to the point of challenging Sonny to an arnis fight. His challenge was so laughable to the point that Sonny merely ignored it and Migs could not do anything.
The pretentious ways of Manny Pacquiao and Alan Cayetano, now the DFA secretary, did not escape Sonny's attention. Sonny knows their asslicking ways and he did not hesitate to criticize them publicly, thus earning their ire.
Today, Sonny openly criticized Dick Gordon's autocratic ways, telling straight to his face how he had barricaded himself in Subic Freeport just to keep his post as SBMA chair.
Hence, Sonny could exercise his bragging rights as a soldier, who rebelled against corruption in government and suffered, along with his fellow soldiers, seven and a half years of imprisonment. Hence, courage is the hallmark of his character.
That he never runs away from a fight is his greatest virtue. Sonny Trillanes is a genuine warrior.
