MANILA—Senator Antonio Trillanes IV still keeps in his office the red armband he wore during the hotel siege he became infamous for 15 years ago, gazing at it as he drew up a strategy against the second President he has called on to step down.

Trillanes has been holed up in his office for 5 days, dismissing as illegal and a threat to democracy President Rodrigo Duterte’s withdrawal of amnesty for his adventurist past as a Navy lieutenant, where he led two attempts to oust then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“It stands for governance reforms,” Trillanes told ABS-CBN News, referring to the armband that has been framed in glass and displayed in his dimly lit office in the Senate.

“It represents kung saan ako nanggaling and it’s a reminder for me na ipagpatuloy ang sinimulan namin na ayusin ang ating bansa ng sa ganun ay mapaginhawa namin ang buhay ng bawat Pilipino.”

(It represents where I came from and it’s a reminder for me to continue what we started in terms of fixing our country and improving Filipino lives.)

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV keeps his Magdalo arm band as a souvenir in his office, says it reminds him of where and why he started. Soldiers who mounted an uprising vs Gloria Arroyo wore these arm bands as they stormed the Oakwood Premier hotel in Makati in 2003. pic.twitter.com/R5xrtJOhwF

— Kat Domingo (@_katrinadomingo) September 8, 2018

Trillanes and some 300 other soldiers stormed the Oakwood Premier hotel in the heart of the Makati Central Business District in 2003 in a bid to unseat Arroyo.

The group, dubbed as Magdalo due to their red armbands that bore the symbol of the Katipunan faction that bore the same name, decried massive corruption in the Armed Forces’ procurement system and poor medical services for soldiers under the Arroyo regime.

In 2007, Trillanes and nearly 30 other soldiers walked out of a court trial and trooped to another upscale hotel in Makati. The group seized one of the ballrooms as it continued to call for Arroyo’s ouster.

Ret. Lt. Senior Grade Eugene Gonzales, Trillanes’ classmate in the Philippine Military Academy who also joined the uprising, said the Magdalo has been pushing for a just, corruption-free society.

It had to break away from the military that was then led by a corrupt commander-in-chief, he alleged.

“People think this just started in Oakwood. This started way before,” Gonzalez said.

“[We have] the way of thinking na hindi puwede itong corruption, hindi puwede itong blatant abuse of authority.

“Hindi puwede itong we’re just going around being soldiers and our dream is just being generals. We dream of a better country, not just [to become] generals,” he said.

In December 2010, President Benigno Aquino III who succeeded Arroyo issued Presidential Proclamation 75 that offered amnesty for the soldiers who participated in the mutinies.

Trillanes and his comrades applied for and was granted amnesty in January 2011.

Seven years later, President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation 572 that voided Trillanes’ amnesty for the former mutineer’s alleged failure to submit an amnesty application form that contained a clear “expression of guilt.”

Trillanes has called on the Supreme Court to declare Duterte’s proclamation as unconstitutional and vowed to continue probing irregularities under the administration of the former Davao City mayor.

“We have a vision. We envision a country of peace, progress, and prosperity with an empowered citizenry. It will operate until we actualize that vision,” Trillanes said.

“That armband just reminds me na diyan ako nanggaling at ipagpapatuloy ko ‘yan. Kapag may ganitong mga sitwasyon, ipaglalaban natin anong kailangan ipaglaban.”

(That armband reminds me where I started and that I have to continue. When there are situations like these, we will continue to fight.)