Paolo Duterte camp says it won’t dignify Trillanes’ allegations

The counsel of Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte maintained that their camp will not dignify the claims of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who he said was only employing propaganda techniques of Nazi party member Joseph Goebbels.

Lawyer Rainier Madrid, who accompanied Duterte at the Senate hearing on Thursday, said he had advised his client “not to play the game of Trillanes.”

During the inquiry into the alleged “tara system” in the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Trillanes challenged Duterte to show the tattoo on his back to prove that he’s not a member of a Chinese triad involved in drug smuggling.

The senator, one of the administration’s staunchest critics, also presented photos of Duterte with businessmen Kenneth Dong and Charlie Tan who were allegedly involved in the P6.4-billion shipment of drugs from China.

“He’s a fake. He’s a propagandist and his objective is to manipulate people’s minds, especially the media,” he said.

“Look what he did—he presented pictures by association, that’s the style of Goebbels. A lie once said remains a lie but a lie said many times becomes true and sabi ni Goebbels, give me the media and I will make of any nation a herd of swine,” Madrid said.

Madrid said he was the one who told Duterte not to show his tattoo in the public hearing.

“I was the one who advised my client. Gusto mo sabihin uto-uto kami?” he said.

“He has a tattoo. Tattoo is a fad nowadays. Even people in Hollywood, they have tattoos and he was gentleman enough to admit he has tattoos. He’s a young lad, nadadala sa mga uso, but to say he’s a member of triad — that’s too much,” the lawyer said.

Trillanes said reliable sources, who came “from a foreign country,” relayed to him that Duterte had a tattoo on his back only members of the drug triad have.

Trillanes said Duterte could have his tattoo photographed so the United States’ Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) could confirm which faction of the triad he belongs to. The said syndicate involved in different criminal activities reportedly operates in China, Hongkong and Macau.

Asked if he himself saw Duterte’s tattoo before advising his client to not show it, Madrid said: “I haven’t seen it because I’m not gay. If I am, I would’ve insisted.”

The lawyer added that “tattoos in the body (are) very private.” je