Drilon to launch memoir ‘Being Frank’

MANILA, Philippines — As another impeachment complaint against President Marcos moves through Congress, former Senate president Franklin Drilon is revisiting moments when the country last faced similar political tests in his autobiography.

Drilon will launch on Feb. 9 “Being Frank: A Memoir,” a 254-page first-person account that traces his decades-long career in public service. The memoir covers major events in the country, political alliances, hard-won lessons and landmark laws that helped shape the country’s modern history.

In the book, Drilon offers an insider’s view of two impeachment trials – one of which triggered the removal of president Joseph Estrada through people power, and the other that culminated in the conviction and removal of Renato Corona as chief justice. 

Drilon served as senator-judge in both impeachment proceedings.

“Being Frank” offers tense, action-filled moments that unfold like a political drama.

In one account, Drilon recalls receiving a series of phone calls in the days leading up to the Estrada impeachment trial.

“I remember the phone calls – some pleading, others threatening; former allies questioned my loyalty, my motives, even my integrity,” Drilon narrated.

The impeachment trial began on Dec. 7, 2000, with Estrada facing charges of bribery, graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust. 

“It was unlike anything I had experienced in my decades of legal and political practice. The Senate chamber, usually a place of spirited or somber legislative debate, transformed into a courtroom where the very legitimacy of our democratic institutions hung in the balance,” Drilon said in the book.

For aspiring lawyers and young public servants, the memoir could serve as an informal primer on constitutional and legal procedures as the former justice secretary walks readers through the legal strategies used by both the prosecution and the defense in the two impeachment trials, as well as some of legal missteps and successes that he witnessed.