SUPPORTERS of President Rodrigo Duterte will file several criminal charges against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for making what they described as unfounded allegations against the Chief Executive.
A group led by former congressmen Jacinto Paras and Glenn Chong will file a complaint against Trillanes for inciting sedition, conspiracy to commit a coup d’etat and other offenses before the Pasay city prosecutor’s office.
The charges against Trillanes stemmed from the statements he made in his privilege speech on Oct. 3 and his speech during the launching of the Tindig Pilipinas movement on Oct. 14 involving Duterte’s alleged deposit accounts.
The complainants include lawyers Nasser Marohonsalic, Nestor Ifurung, Eligio Mallari and Doy Bringas, Bantay Demokrasya and Kilusang
The group’s lawyer Manuelito Luna said the speeches made by Trillanes did not give him immunity from suits.
“The Oct. 3 privilege speech against the President and the government is not protected speech under the Speech or Debate Clause,” Luna said.
In his privilege speech, Trillanes accused Duterte of having had bank accounts with transactions amounting to over P2 billion from September 2006 to December 2015.
He also claimed that the administration bought false information from “financial forensic expert” Daniel “Snooky” Cruz involving his supposed offshore accounts in a bank in Singapore for P10 million to destroy his credibility.
In his speech during the Tindig Pilipinas launching, Trillanes announced several details of the supposed bank deposits of the President.
He claimed that one of the alleged accounts had deposits of P50 million at least 13 times.
Trillanes also said that, in another bank account, there were at least 20 deposits of P40 million to P50 million each.
He said Duterte bought in just one day insurance for his four children worth P80 million.
Luna said the senator’s acts of rumor-mongering and spreading false information were unlawful.