PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday likened Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to the Islamic State terrorist group for constantly attacking him without the proper basis or evidence.
“Trillanes is a political ISIS. He does not know anything, he only likes to hit. He thinks he is right. It’s funny when he talks, it’s as if he really knows the law,” said Duterte in a mix of English and Filipino Saturday night.
“The problem is, he is the same with [Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary] Alejano. They file cases without really knowing the law,” Duterte said.
“With Trillanes, it’s… B says that C told him. That’s not evidence, passing on information,” Duterte added.
“But they persist because either they’re dedicated to their ignorance… This [Trillanes] is a political ISIS. He has no talent… Actually he lacks knowledge in life,” Duterte said.
Duterte also chided Trillanes for picking a fight with Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, which is investigating the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu through Customs.
Trillanes, citing the testimony of Customs fixer Mark Taguba, has accused Duterte’s son, Davao Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and presidential son-in-law Manases Carpio, of taking bribes to smooth shipments through the Bureau of Customs.
Taguba, however, said he had no first-hand knowledge of Duterte’s son or his son-in-law being involved in any smuggling syndicate, saying they were linked only by rumors and hearsay.
Last week, Trillanes and Gordon argued over whether Paolo Duterte or Carpio should be summoned to the Senate hearings.
On Saturday, the Palace said it might not be necessary to summon the younger Duterte and Carpio to the Senate after they were cleared by Taguba in a statement issued Friday.
Earlier, Alejano, who had filed an unsuccessful impeachment complaint against Duterte, said it was “suspicious” that the President remained silent on the P6.4-billion drug shipment from China.
“Over two months since the P6.4 billion worth of shabu shipped from China was discovered by authorities and the President has [remained] indifferent [to] the issue,” Alejano said in a statement.
“The same President who is infamous for his deadly war on drugs. The same President who has threatened and lambasted drug addicts, drug peddlers and nacro-politicians in every opportunity for him to speak. The same President who said that he would kill even his own child if found out to be involved in illegal drugs,” he said.
“Duterte has been suspiciously silent on an issue involving illegal drugs of this scale. The President kills small-time drug addicts on the streets while tons of drugs slip through Customs,” he said in Filipino.
Trillanes dismissed the President’s latest harangue against him, saying Duterte was panicking because the illegal activities of his family would soon be revealed.
“The bottom line is this: His son and son-in-law were named as the masterminds behind the Davao Group and are being suspected of being involved in smuggling operations that led to the express entry of the P6.4-billion shabu shipment into the country,” he said.
Senator Manny Pacquiao, meanwhile, said Trillanes exhibited unparliamentary behavior in his argument with Gordon on Thursday.
Pacquiao, in an interview on radio dzBB said, “Trillanes made a mistake. His attitude and what he said were unparliamentary, so this has to be investigated by the Senate ethics committee,” he said in Filipino. “He should have showed Gordon some respect as the chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee.”
Gordon has said he would file an ethics complaint against Trillanes, who said such a move would have no chance of success.
Pacquiao, a member of the committee on ethics, said he is open to investigating the case if a formal complaint is filed.