Trillanes downplays Duterte’s subpoena threat vs. his mother

FILE: Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (Photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV will not try to stop President Rodrigo Duterte from issuing a subpoena against his mother over her alleged business dealings with the military.

“Just do it and let it be another humiliating episode for you like the fake offshore bank accounts you alleged against me,” Trillanes said in a statement on Wednesday, February 27.

“Mahirap dito kay Duterte hindi lang ako kaya, kaya ang Nanay kong may sakit ang pinagdidiskitahan. Sige lang (The thing about Duterte is that he cannot pick on me that is why he is now singling out my sick mother. Go ahead), do your worst while I count the days,” he added.

The President on Tuesday said he will summon Estelita Trillanes whom he accused of having supply transactions with the Philippine Navy when the senator and his deceased father, Antonio Trillanes, Sr., were still in the military service.

[READ: Duterte wants to subpoena Trillanes’s mother over alleged transactions with PH Navy]

He made the allegations during his televised interview with Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo last September 2018.

“Since September last year, Duterte has been saying that he asked different agencies to investigate the supposed anomalous transactions of my Mother,” Trillanes said.

“But up to now, he has yet to show even a shred of evidence to prove his baseless allegations,” he continued.

Duterte, in November 2018, said the government is already investigating the alleged transactions of Trillanes’s 84-year-old mother who is suffering from advanced Parkinson’s Disease.

The lawmaker had denied the President’s claims and criticized him for dragging his mother into their squabble.

Trillanes also earlier said that he will “voluntarily” go to any jail, even in Duterte’s hometown, Davao City, if it can be proven that his mother had been involved in any anomalies.

Aside from this, the senator has been facing a number of charges. Just yesterday, the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office indicted him on the charge of inciting to sedition over his statements against the President after the latter issued a proclamation that revoked his amnesty.