Davao Prosecutor’s Office tells Trillanes to answer libel case

Former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte (left) and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. RTVM, INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

The Davao City Prosecutor’s Office has issued a subpoena for Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, asking him to submit a counteraffidavit in relation to the libel charges filed against him by former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and his brother-in-law, Manases Carpio.

Issued by Prosecutor III Faizal Padate on September 10, the subpoena, which was released to the media by Trillanes’ office on Tuesday, told the opposition senator to submit his answer within 10 days from receipt.

“Your failure to submit your counter-affidavit within the ten-day period shall be deemed a waiver on your part and the complaint shall be resolved by the investigating prosecutor based on the evidence submitted by the complainant,” the subpoena read.

The subpoena stemmed from a libel complaint filed by both the Presidential son and Carpio against Trillanes for accusing them of extorting money from ride-hailing services like Uber.

In the complaint, Paolo and Carpio claimed that Trillanes made a defamatory publication when he said, during a radio interview, that they were asking money from Uber and other companies regulated by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, the Road Board and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The said radio interview was aired over DYAB Cebu with broadcaster Leo Lastimosa on September 8, 2017, where Trillanes had accused the brothers-in-law of extorting money from Uber and “other companies.”

Paolo wrote in his complaint that Trillanes’ accusations against them “are pregnant with malice aforethought and evil intent.”

“Watching it, I was aghast to hear the respondent maliciously accusing me and my brother-in-law of supposed rampant and widespread corruption and extortion,” Duterte said, adding that the accusations were based on information reportedly fed to Trillanes by a source whom the senator did not identify. /jpv

READ: Paolo Duterte, brother-in-law file libel cases against Trillanes