Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (left) and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro ‘Teddy Boy’ Locsin Jr. INQUIRER FILE
MANILA, Philippines — Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV agreed with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. that President Rodrigo Duterte’s tirade against him is “illuminating” because it was an “admission” of extrajudicial killings (EJK) in the government’s war against drugs.
“Most illuminating indeed, Mr. Locsin. Because if you hadn’t noticed, your boss has admitted to be behind the EJKs. Brilliant!” Trillanes said in a tweet on Wednesday.
Most illuminating indeed, Mr. Locsin. Because if you hadn't noticed, your boss has admitted to be behind the EJKs. Brilliant!
— Sonny Trillanes IV (@TrillanesSonny) February 20, 2019
This was a reply to Locsin’s statement calling Duterte’s tirade against Trillanes the “most illuminating remark” on the issue of the government’s drive against illegal drugs.
“This is the most illuminating remark I’ve ever read on the issue here both at home and abroad and that includes Geneva. Every word of it especially the idiot part.. The innumeracy remark too must hurt,” Locsin said in a tweet.
This is the most illuminating remark I've ever read on the issue here both at home and abroad and that includes Geneva. Every word of it especially the idiot part.. The innumeracy remark too must hurt. https://t.co/gd0hANSLLr
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) February 19, 2019
Locsin was referring to Duterte’s remark against Trillanes in a recent speech saying, “Some critic, a senator — a stupid senator — Trillanes said, ‘Oh they are dead, they are no more — because they are dead.’ And so? Are you not happy that I’m doing it for you instead of you, a military idiot? You do not even know how to count.”
READ: Duterte slams Trillanes on ‘fewer drug addicts’ remark
This was after Trillanes retorted a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey which showed that majority of Filipinos believe that there were fewer drug addicts in their communities.
“Since libu-libo ang pinatay niyo na addicts without due process and without giving them the opportunity to be rehabilitated, ‘do ba natural lang na mababawasan ang addicts?” Trillanes said in a statement.
READ: Fewer drug addicts? Thousands were killed without due process — Trillanes
Trillanes reiterated his stance that there are fewer drug addicts because they were killed under the administration’s drug war and said Duterte will be accountable for this.
“Mr. Duterte, let me break it down for you like you’re a 5-year old. If you were able to reduce the number of addicts because they were rehabilitated; the drug lords were imprisoned; and the shabu supply stopped; then you can say that your anti-drug program is effective,” Trillanes said in a statement on Wednesday.
“But, no, their number reduced because you did the most simplistic, most ruthless and most barbaric option there is: you had your countrymen killed even on mere suspicion of drug use. And for those crimes, mananagot ka!” he added.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said 5,104 had died in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, with more than 167,135 arrested in more than 113,500 antinarcotics operations from July 1016 to November 2018. Those are on top of P25.62 billion worth of illegal drugs seized in 2018.
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police said that more than 11,000 barangays had been cleared of illegal drugs as of 2018. /cbb
READ: PDEA: Almost 5,000 killed in Duterte’s war on drugs as of Oct. 2018
READ: PNP: 11,000 villages cleared of drugs