Trillanes: Witness not coerced into linking Duterte to illegal drugs

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV released on Thursday video and audio recordings to prove that a woman, who claimed to be a balut vendor, was not coerced into supposedly linking President Rodrigo Duterte into illegal drugs.

This was contrary to the allegation of a certain Guillermina Barrido, as reported by some media outfits, that she was pressured by Trillanes’ group to testify against the president.

“Unang-una, pinabubulaanan ko yung mga alegasyon na panunuhol na sinasabi nitong lumabas na tao. Hindi po totoo yan,” the senator said at a news conference in the Senate. “Alam niyo po itong taong ito ay nagparating sa amin ng mensahe na meron daw syang sasabihin na negatibo laban kay President Duterte.”

(“First of all, I’m denying the allegation of bribery that this person has been saying. That’s not true. You know, this person sent us a message that something negative would be said against President Duterte.“)

So in November 2016, Trillanes said his staff met with Barrido and part of the meeting was caught in a three-minute video that he played at the news conference.

In the video, Barrido could be heard talking about “party drugs” and supposedly seeing Duterte himself at a pier where illegal drugs were being shipped.

Asked how the woman would say against Duterte, Trillanes said: “Sinabi niya (Barrido) na nakita daw niya sa may pier na may cargo shipment daw. Tapos si Duterte daw mismo ang nag-check ng cocaine. Tinikman daw. Sa kanya lahat nang nanggalign yan.”

(“She said she saw him at the pier where there was a cargo shipment. Then it was Duterte himself who checked the cocaine. He tasted it. This all came from her.”)

“Willingly. Hindi naman siya coerced. Tapos the information obviously was not being fed to her. Sinasabi niya voluntarily,” Trillanes added.

(“She said it willingly. She was not coerced. The information obviously was not being fed to her. She said it voluntarily.”)

In another audio recording, the senator said, his staff could be heard telling the woman that they did’t have money to pay her. He said one of his staff members even joked that they could only give Barrido load for her cellphone.

Trillanes said Barrido was also asking money supposedly for the allowance of her group.

After vetting, the senator said they rejected Barrido as a credible witness, citing inconsistencies in her statements.

Trillanes cited as an example the woman’s claim that she was selling balut when she saw Duterte allegedly checking cocaine at the pier.

“Nakita daw niya yung insidente na yun dahil nagbebenta daw siya ng balut,” Trillanes said. “Yun palang medyo may problema na. Tapos tiningnan namin sa lugar na sinabi niya kung may access na ganun at may mga kakilala naman kami dun. At hindi, wala.”

(“She said she saw the incident because she was selling balut. There’s a problem with that alone. Then we look at the place she was referring to to see if she had access, because we know someone there. But there was no access.“)

“I’m not saying it did to happen, but basically she did not pass the credibility test,” he added.

In hindsight, Trillanes said Barrido could have been planted by Duterte’s group to burn him.

“It’s a propaganda game that they’re playing, but I’m going to burn them as I’m doing now,” the senator said.

Trillanes also demanded a public apology from radio and TV anchor Erwin Tulfo and Radyo 5 for accusing him of bribing witnesses. /atm