SolGen backs Davao City’s persona non grata tag on Trillanes

Solicitor General Jose Calida thinks there is basis in the Davao City Council's declaration of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV as a "persona non grata" in President Rodrigo Duterte's home turf.

"Well with this information, I think there's basis for that," he said on Tuesday when asked for a reaction on Trillanes' declaration as "persona non grata."

Calida was referring to his information that the Office of the Ombudsman has "closed and terminated" its inquiry on the plunder complaint Trillanes had filed against Duterte before the 2016 election.

For Calida, this means Trillanes' "garbage evidence" against the President has been "junked."

Trillanes was tagged as a "persona non grata" over his comment that Davao City allegedly had the highest murder rate and was the most dangerous city in the Philippines.

Davao City Vice Mayor Bernard Al-ag reportedly found this comment a big insult.

Responding to the declaration, Trillanes maintained that his claim was the truth.

Also declared a persona non grata in Davao City was New York-based philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis.

Duterte had alleged that Lewis' phone conversation with an unnamed person, based on recordings from a "another country," was his first information of the International Criminal Court's preliminary examination on the drug war-related allegations against him.

Lewis denied the "story" given to the president by the undisclosed country, even as she expressed her reprehension on the killings linked to the government's anti-illegal drugs campaign. —NB, GMA News