Trillanes bent on pinning down Duterte kin in Senate probe

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Sen. Antonio Trilanes IV on Wednesday said he was confident he would be able to pin down President Duterte’s son and son-in-law as well as those behind the smuggling at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), including the P6.4-billion “shabu” (crystal meth) shipment from China, when the two  appear at a Senate hearing this morning.

Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and lawyer Maneses “Mans” Carpio, husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, are expected to attend the seventh hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee on the shabu shipment. The hearing will also tackle the alleged payola system at the BOC.

Heated exchange

The appearance of the younger Duterte and Carpio at the hearing came after Trillanes called on the two men to shed light on their alleged involvement in the so-called Davao Group, which allegedly makes possible the release of shipments at the BOC  without inspection in exchange for a fee.

Last week, Trillanes figured in a heated exchange with the  committee chair, Sen. Richard Gordon, over his call to make the two men attend the hearing. Gordon said he could not just summon anyone based on hearsay.

Ethics complaint

But in the end, Gordon, who filed an ethics complaint against Trillanes following their heated exchange, ordered the vice mayor and Carpio to be invited to the hearing.

Gordon told reporters he would ensure that the hearing would be “in order.”

“I will not allow it to be disrupted,” he said, adding that Trillanes could question the younger Duterte and Carpio.

Asked whether he thought the vice mayor and Carpio would cooperate at the hearing, Trillanes said he was “preparing for scenarios in which they will either cooperate or not.”

“But either way, after (last Thursday’s) hearing, it would be clear to the people that both of them are involved not only in smuggling operations in the BOC but also in the entry of the P6.4-billion illegal drug shipment,” he said in a text message.

Trillanes told reporters he did not need to prove anything as the hearing was not a court.

“We’re trying to extract information. We’re trying to ferret out the truth about the issue. So it’s not about proving anything. It’s up to the people who will watch the proceedings about what really happened,” he said.

Right vs self-incrimination

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said he was not optimistic that the hearing could come up with anything substantive.

“I think they are saying they will invoke the right against self-incrimination. That is their privilege if they invoke it and it should be respected,” Drilon said in an interview.

He said the right could be invoked because a “case can be filed against you afterward” as “your statement can be used against you.”

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said this right could be invoked because it should be the state that should develop a case against a person.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said his son and son-in-law could invoke the right against self-incrimination at the Senate hearing.