MANILA – After testing negative for illegal drugs, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has challenged President Rodrigo Duterte and his family to also undergo drug tests.
Trillanes said that the first family should live by example on the campaign promise of Duterte against illegal drug trade and use in the country.
“Duterte and his family should also live by example. Thus I am challenging them to do the same,” said Trillanes, who was one of the six incumbent senators who recently underwent a drug test.
Trillanes has previously cast doubts on the Duterte administration’s war on drugs and has also linked his son, resigned Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte, to illegal drug trade.
According to Trillanes, Paolo facilitated the entry and release of P6.4 billion worth of “shabu” from China in May 2017 and was also involved in the illegal drug trade even when his father was still mayor of Davao City.
Aside from Trillanes, the other senators who tested negative from drugs are Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, and senators Gregorio Honasan, Loren Legarda, and Paolo Benigno Aquino.
Sotto said that the drug tests is not part of a witch hunt but an awareness program as the Senate wants to take the lead in upholding Duterte administration’s “war on drugs.”
“Enforcement, prosecution, prevention and rehabilitation are the four major concerns in the battle against illegal drugs and the absence of any of these four will definitely make you unsuccessful in any fight against drugs,” Sotto said.
“Part of prevention is drug testing. It’s part of the awareness and prevention program,” added Sotto, who is a former head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)./PN
