Senator Antonio Trillanes IV believes that President Rodrigo Duterte’s family was behind the move to declare him persona non grata in Davao City.
Trillanes, in an interview at the Senate on Tuesday, also blasted the city council that declared him persona non grata, calling it a “rubber stamp” of the Dutertes.
“Ang sa akin naman, they have every right to do that. Sila yung mga halal ng bayan sa Davao City. Kung ‘yan ang naisip nila, siguro wala na silang magawa dun sa konseho…” he said.
(For me, they have every right to do that. They are the ones elected in Davao City. If they were the ones who thought of that, maybe they have nothing else to do in the council…)
“Pero yang city council kasi ng Davao, ano ‘yan, rubber stamp naman ng mga Duterte. So pakana rin lang ito ng pamilya Duterte,” the senator added.
(But that city council in Davao, that’s the rubber stamp of the Dutertes. So this is a scheme from the Duterte family.)
Duterte was the longtime mayor of the city before he became President in 2016. His daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, is the incumbent mayor while his son, Paolo, was the city vice mayor until his recent resignation.
But Trillanes remained unfazed by the city council’s move against him, even if it would mean that he would not be able to set foot again in the province.
“It’s not necessary my loss. Ang sa akin lang, masakit ang katotohanan (truth hurts),” he said, adding that the issue was not about him and Davao.
The senator also repeated his earlier claim that Davao City was the “most dangerous” city in the Philippines based the December 2015 statistics of the Philippine National Police.
Trillanes noted that during that time, Duterte was still the mayor of Davao City, which had the highest incidence of murder and second highest in rape.
“Most dangerous city ang Davao dahil sa mga Duterte (because of the Dutertes). Uulitin ko number 1 sa murder at number 2 sa rape (I repeat, they’re number 1 in murder and number 2 in rape). That makes Davao City the most dangerous city in the Philippines,” he added.
Aside from Trillanes, philanthropist and Fil-Am businesswoman Loida Nicolas-Lewis was also declared persona non grata in Davao City. /je
READ: Trillanes, a ‘persona non grata’ in Davao City – local execs