DAVAO CITY—Presidential son and former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte on Saturday said he was not bound to exact revenge on outgoing Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
“I honestly do not seek revenge. What I seek is justice,” Paolo said in a statement posted on Facebook.
He said Trillanes is worthless, “perhaps except for the few who believed in the lies he concocted against me and my family.”
“As he is today, he will be worthless. I have filed cases against him and he should man up and face these cases in court,” Paolo said.
He said he will devote his time to serve the Dabawenyos “considering the insignificance and uselessness of Mr. Trillanes.”
On Friday, President Rodrigo Duterte said Paolo is running for Congress to get back at Trillanes, who had tagged him behind the P6.4-million shabu smuggling that the Bureau of Customs failed to intercept in 2017.
“I think he’s running for Congressman kasi napahiya. Pinahiya ni Trillanes,” Duterte said before the Filipino community in Papua New Guinea.
“Pulong gaganti talaga yan. He will be running for Congress, tabla sila doon,” Duterte said.
Trillanes will end his term as senator next year and he denied reports that he was made a nominee of the Magdalo Party.
He added he is not running in any position.
Paolo had since filed criminal and civil libel charges against the Magdalo senator.
Still on Trillanes, President Duterte said former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes committed suicide after Senator Antonio Trillanes IV shamed him at a Senate hearing several years back.
“Yung binastos niya [Trillanes] tapos the guy [Angie Reyes] tried to stand up and said, ‘I just want to protect my dignity.’ Tapos sinabi nito… ‘I could not really believe it from a PMAer to a PMAer nauna ka.’ Sabi niya [Trillanes] ‘You sit down because you do not have any dignity’,” Dutere said referring to the shaming episode at the Senate.
Then, Duterte said Reyes went to the cemetery, and at the tomb of his mother he took his life.
Reyes was accused of pocketing at least P50 million in “sendoff” money upon his retirement as military chief in 2001, which led to a Senate inquiry.