MANILA, Philippines — Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores believes former senator Antonio Trillanes IV should have presented more concrete evidence instead of relying on newspaper clippings, interviews of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s critics, in his testimony.
During his turn to interpellate Trillanes at the quad committee hearing on Wednesday night, Flores took notice of the former senator’s presentation—which took over an hour—as the information originated either from retired police officer Arturo Lascañas, dismissed Police colonel Eduardo Acierto, or media reports.
“Kanina ko pa gustong mag-interrupt sana eh, kasi most of the information that you gave were actually available already in open sources like newspaper clippings and the affidavit of persons. And in fact it appears nga na parang you were just making a summary of everything that you found from newspaper articles and the affidavit of other resource persons,” Flores said.
READ: Bank documents show Duterte’s drug war was ‘fake’ – Trillanes
“Kasi while I was listening to you kanina, it’s either Art Lascañas, Acierto, or the other newspaper articles ang basis ng ano. I was really hoping that you could have given us more concrete, siguro evidence po, to support the allegations made by Lascañas,” he added.
READ: Bank documents show Duterte’s drug war was ‘fake’ – Trillanes
Trillanes agreed with Flores’ views, but the former senator said that this was just the result of his investigation while he was still a senator.
READ: Prove bank accounts and I’ll resign immediately, Duterte tells Trillanes
According to Trillanes, Lascañas and Acierto’s testimonies are critical because it dispelled the notion that former president Duterte was really against illegal drugs.
“Yes Mr. Chairman, sa nakita niyo po ’no, since hindi naman po tayo nasa court of law, the way I presented everything, ito ‘yong resulta ng investigation when I was still at the Senate, and nagkalap kami ng intelligence information, ‘yan open sources, tapos insider information din. That was very critical,” he said.
(Yes Mr. Chairman, what you saw—since we’re not in a court of law—the way I presented everything, this is the result of the investigation when I was still at the Senate, and we gathered intelligence information, open sources, then insider information din. That was very critical.)
“Before namin nakausap si Lascañas, all of us were susceptible in embracing or swallowing the false narrative of Duterte na talagang galit siya sa droga, and the way he delivers these things, talagang emphatic eh, talagang parang kapani-paniwala na galit talaga. But then he (Lascañas) is an insider guy, who came up with all of these information, talagang nag-iba ’yong paradigm,” he added.
(Before we talked to Lascañas, all of us were susceptible in embracing or swallowing the false narrative of Duterte that he is really against illegal drugs, and the way he delivers these things, he’s really emphatic eh, he seems believable. But then he is an insider guy, who came up with all of this information, the paradigm shifted.)
During his presentation, Trillanes showed different interviews that linked Duterte with figures that he claimed were involved in the illegal drug trade and smuggling operations—like former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang, Duterte’s son and now Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, Davao councilor Nilo Abellara, and others.
However, Trillanes did not present any paper trail or documentary evidence that would link the former president, his family, and his allies to the drug trade.
In a previous quad committee hearing, Trillanes claimed that Duterte’s drug war was fake, and that it was supposedly implemented to weed out competition.
Trillanes said this was his conclusion after he and former senator Leila de Lima gathered evidence—including documented paper and money trails—linking Lascañas’ accusations against the Dutertes and Davao businessman Sammy Uy.
This is not the first time however that Trillanes accused Duterte of involvement in the drug trade. In 2017, Trillanes claimed that Duterte had over P2 billion in different bank accounts—which the former president dared the former senator to prove.
Duterte said that if this will be proven, he will resign from his post.