(Eagle News) — Former Davao Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte on Thursday, April 4, said he would file “another string of cases” against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who he said was behind the video of a man who claimed the presidential son was linked to illegal drugs.
“He may deny it, but the video supposedly showing my involvement in the illegal drug trade in the country has been clearly stamped with the indelible Trillanes signature of being a desperate mercenary, one who has done nothing good but attack the government,” Duterte said.
According to the presidential son, “if there’s anything admirable about” the senator, it was his “relentlessness and talent to turn the absurd into something ridiculous, if not bizarrely entertaining.”
He dared Trillanes and “everyone behind the stupid and empty video exposé to back their claims” against him, saying he would “not show the tattoo on (his) back and make things easier” for him.
The former Davao vice mayor was referring to the tattoo Trillanes said the presidential son had that showed he was a member of an international criminal syndicate.
Trillanes had prodded the presidential son to show the supposed tattoo during a hearing on the P6.4-billion shabu shipment in 2017, but the former Davao vice mayor refused.
Trillanes also alleged the presidential son was a member of the Davao Group supposedly behind the shabu shipment.
The Senate blue ribbon committee investigating the shipment subsequently cleared the former Davao vice mayor of any involvement
Duterte has since filed libel cases against Trillanes.
“I have filed cases against Mr. Trillanes for ruining my name. I will file another string of cases for his continued attempts to destroy my reputation,” the former Davao vice mayor said.
In the video titled “Ang Totoong Narco-list (The True Narco-list) Episode 1,” a man who identified himself as “Bikoy” claimed the presidential son used two code names, “Polo Delta TSG01” and “Alpha Tierra-0029” to receive payoffs from a drug syndicate.
“Bikoy” had said he knew about the supposed transactions because he was in charge of the supposed financial records of the syndicate that allegedly operates in Southern Luzon and the Visayas.
He alleged the money was deposited to supposed bank accounts owned by Agriculture Undersecretary Waldo Carpio, a brother of Carpio.
The Palace has dismissed the video as mere “black propaganda.”
The younger Duterte is running for a House seat in the May elections.
