Trillanes: COA has cleared my consultancy services expenses

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Senator  Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday denied allegations that he was using Senate funds for his household and personal expenses.

“The names mentioned in a newspaper article published today are legitimate consultants. Some were employed as confidential agents in relation to the ongoing Senate investigation regarding Binay anomalies, while others are doing field research, staff work, and other auxiliary services assigned to them,” Trillanes said in a statement.

Trillanes initiated  the  ongoing Senate investigation  on  corruption allegations against Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Trillanes issued  the statement  in response to a newspaper report  that more than half of  the monthly allocation for his office allegedly went to the salaries of his consultants, including a houseboy, family drivers, media workers, campaign donors, ex-mutineer-friends and a brother who was supposedly getting P71,200 a month.

But Trillanes  said  this  consultancy issue was already cleared by the Commission on Audit (COA), which he said  has not issued up to this day any notice of disallowance regarding the same.

“In fact, the Senate has already met with COA, and it was concluded that there is nothing illegal with the senators’ consultancy services expenses,”  he said.

“I believe that this trivial issue is basically just a hatchet job to tarnish my anti-corruption efforts. I have been imprisoned for more than seven years fighting for this advocacy and I’m not about to stop now. Just the same, be assured that not a single centavo of the funds entrusted to my office was pocketed,” the senator added. AU