Trillanes on Gordon’s threat to file ethics rap: Stop blabbering and go ahead

Senator Richard Gordon should “stop blabbering” and instead make good on his threat to file an ethics complaint, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said Thursday.

“Wine-welcome ko ‘yun. Alam ninyo, palagi nagte-threaten ng ethics complaint itong si Senator Gordon, pero ni isa, wala. Kasi wala namang basis, puro lang dakdak,” Trillanes told reporters in an interview.

“Sa’kin, sige, i-file mo na para tigil na yang pagdadakdak,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes said this after he and Gordon engaged in a heated argument during the blue ribbon committee probe on the P6.4-billion shabu shipment smuggled from China.

During the hearing, Trillanes referred to the panel chaired by Gordon as “committee de abswelto” as both Gordon and Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III were supposedly “badgering” the witness on the so-called Davao Group.

Trillanes earlier said that President Rodrigo Duterte's son Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo “Pulong” Duterte and son-in-law, Manases Carpio, are behind the said group allegedly involved in the smuggling of shipments at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Carpio is the husband of the President's daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

“Are you accusing the chair or Sen. Sotto of badgering the witness?” Gordon asked Trillanes, who answered back: “If you feel alluded to, then yes.”

This prompted Gordon to suspend the hearing. Trillanes then said that the blue ribbon panel has turned into a “committee de abswelto.”

Gordon moved to hold Trillanes in contempt for continuing to speak even if the session had been suspended. Trillanes objected, saying the panel was not a “one-man committee.”

Gordon threatened to personally file an ethics case against Trillanes, and at one point, turned off Trillanes’ microphone. "Please do so, I welcome that,” Trillanes said, but described his colleague's behavior and ruling as “irrational.”

‘Special treatment’

Trillanes said the blue ribbon committee appears to be giving Paolo and Carpio “special treatment.”

He said Gordon, who was also chairman of the same committee during the Arroyo administration, has a reputation of absolving high-profile personalities.

“May pattern na, tsaka noong panahon pa ni GMA, si Senator Gordon, naging chairman ng blue ribbon committee. Basta malalaking tao, na-a-abswelto,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes also noted how Gordon, also chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, concluded the hearing on extrajudicial killings (EJKs) without hearing several witnesses.

“Basing it form past demeanor ni Senator Gordon nung sinara arbitrarily yung investigation sa EJK, kahit may testigo pang nakasalang noon from the Commission on Human Rights,” he said.

“Itong issue unresolved so bakit mo isasara ito, hindi mo to pwede isara. Kasi malalim pa ang kailangan hanapin dito,” Trillanes added.

Gordon’s committee report on the Senate investigation on EJKs stated that the killings were not state-sponsored. — RSJ, GMA News