Trillanes eyes President’s son as hostile witness in drug probe

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Sunday said Paolo Duterte’s filing libel charges against him had given him a chance to call the son of President Rodrigo Duterte as a hostile witness in a Senate drug smuggling inquiry.

A hostile witness is someone who is called to an investigation but refuses to tell the truth.

In a statement, Trillanes said Paolo Duterte’s legal actions would enable him to pressure the resigned vice mayor of Davao City to open his bank accounts.

Duterte has filed libel charges against Trillanes for linking him to the smuggling into the Philippines of “shabu” (crystal meth) worth P6.4 billion from China and for alleging that he and his brother-in-law, lawyer Manases Carpio, extorted money from ride-hailing companies.

Dragon tattoo

Trillanes said he would call Duterte to the Senate inquiry into drug smuggling and compel him to show the dragon tattoo on his back that he refused to show to the senators during last year’s investigation of the shabu smuggling through the Port of Manila.

“It would also be an opportunity for me to have his bank accounts subpoenaed,” Trillanes said.

During last year’s inquiry, Trillanes claimed that Duterte had a dragon tattoo on his back, proof that he was a member of a triad, a Chinese-organized crime group.

Trillanes dared Duterte to show the tattoo, but the then vice mayor of Davao City refused, saying it was an invasion of his privacy.

Unexplained wealth

A confessed customs fixer, Mark Taguba, implicated Duterte and Carpio in the smuggling of the shabu through the Port of Manila with the connivance of Bureau of Customs officials.

Trillanes also challenged the Dutertes to allow the Anti-Money Laundering Council and the Office of the Ombudsman to open their bank accounts to disprove his accusations of unexplained wealth.