DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 19 Sep) – Resigned Davao City vice mayor Paolo Z. Duterte filed on Wednesday another libel complaint before the City Prosecutor’s Office against opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, this time for dragging him into the P6.4-billion shabu smuggling controversy last year.
The filing of new charges came 13 days after he and brother-in-law filed libel charges against Trillanes for accusing them of corruption and extortion.
Based on his nine-page affidavit, Duterte said Trillanes had accused him and his father, President Rodrigo R. Duterte, as “illegal drug smugglers” in connection with the shabu smuggling from China that arrived in the country via Manila International Container Port in Tondo, Manila on May 16, 2017 during a phone patch interview in the news program of CNN Philippines on June 14, 2018.
The senator, who is a staunch critic of the Duterte administration, had also labelled the two as the principal actors in the illegal drug trade in Davao where the President served as mayor for 22 years.
President Duterte’s eldest son dismissed these accusations as downright libelous, defamatory, and black propaganda intended to “malign, destroy and kill my good name and reputation, locally, nationally, and internationally.”
Last year, Senator Trillanes had claimed that the former vice mayor and his brother-in-law, lawyer Manases Carpio, were part of the so-called Davao Group, which was reportedly behind the P6.4-billion shabu smuggling.
On December 25, 2017, Duterte announced his resignation from his post citing “delicadeza” as reason.
He and Carpio had filed separate charges on September 6, 2018 against Trillanes over the accusation that they were conspiring with Land Transportation Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Central Visayas director Ahmed Cuison in extorting Uber and other similar companies during a radio interview with Leo Lastimosa of DYAB Cebu on September 8, 2017.
The senator accused the two of being involved in corruption and extortion at the Philippine Road Board and Department of Public Works and Highways as part of their supposed corrupt tentacles and “shakedown.” (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
