Duterte camp: Trillanes only after ‘fancy attention’

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (L) and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER/CDN FILE PHOTOS

The camp of poll front-runner Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday fired back at Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who has filed a plunder complaint against the Davao City mayor.

“Trillanes only wants fancy attention; that is why [these] piecemeal releases [only] tickle the media but not the people fed up with trapos,” Peter Tiu Laviña, Duterte’s spokesman, said in statement.

Trillanes, a vice presidential candidate, has filed a plunder complaint against Duterte before the Office of the Ombudsman over alleged “ghost employees” in Davao City.

READ: Trillanes sues Duterte for plunder over ‘ghost employees’

He cited a 2015 Commission on Audit report which said the Davao city government had 11,000 non-existent employees under Duterte’s term as mayor, receiving P708 million a year.

But Duterte’s camp dismissed this claim.

Laviña said that in 2015, the Department of Interior and Local Government, led by now presidential candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, awarded Davao City with a Seal of Good Governance.

“This means the LGU went into evaluation. That award is a positive affirmation compared with trumped up charges,” Laviña said.

Trillanes earlier accused Duterte of having at least P211 million in his account at the Bank of the Philippines Islands on Julia Vargas Branch. The senator said the  mayor did not declare the  amount in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN). JE/rga

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