MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte accused the mother of Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV of having transactions with the Philippine Navy when the senator and his father were still in the service.
In response, Trillanes warned Duterte to leave his mother out of their current exchange of allegations, saying getting personal is “not what a real man would do.”
Duterte made the claim after Trillanes planned to seek a Senate investigation into the multibillion-peso government contracts allegedly secured by relatives of Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go.
“Let’s look at history. Si Trillanes, iyong tatay niya, noong nasa serbisyo pa, saka siya noong sundalo na siya, iyong nanay niya, [may] transaksyon sa supply sa Navy ang nanay niya,” Duterte said.
“Ayaw niyo maniwala? Tanungin niyo iyong Navy. Kung ganyan ang gusto niyong leader, go to Trillanes. Is that a kind of leader na gusto ninyo? Sumampa na kayo roon,” he added.
In a news conference at the Senate, Trillanes belied that this allegation.
“Ang aking nanay ay walang kaso, walang impropriety. Pinalaki kami nang maayos. Siguro kung may kurakot man sa kanila, e kurakot din ako. Pero hindi,” Trillanes said.
“Kung may problema sa akin, stick with me,” he said, addressing the President. “Huwag mong idadamay ang nanay ko, personalan na iyan, huwag ka pumunta doon. Hindi gawain ng tunay na lalaki iyan.”
Duterte recently proclaimed “void” the amnesty that then President Benigno Aquino III granted to Trillanes./PN
