Paolo Duterte to sue Trillanes for libel

Former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte said Thursday he will file libel charges against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for implicating him in the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that was smuggled through the Manila port in May last year.

Duterte said he is taking legal action against Trillanes for “viciously destroying my name, maligning my reputation and integrity, and for deliberately manufacturing lies and spreading black propaganda against me.”

“Senator Trillanes manufactured lies and deliberately spread these lies with the obvious intention of destroying my name and maligning my reputation, with a view to impacting negatively against our beloved President,” Duterte said in a statement.

Trillanes had accused the son of President Rodrigo Duterte of membership in a drug triad which the senator said could be proven by a colored, dragon-like tattoo on his back.

Duterte admitted that he has a tattoo but invoked his right to privacy when asked how it looks like.

A fact-finding panel of the Office of the Ombudsman recently cleared Duterte and brother-in-law, Mans Carpio, of involvement in the shabu shipment that slipped past port inspections.

“The senator was apparently emboldened by his false reliance on and abuse of his parliamentary immunity. But this immunity does not apply to libelous remarks made during media interviews, clearly as these attacks were done outside the halls of the Senate — and definitely not when these were discharged with the pure intention of destroying me,” the former vice mayor said.

Duterte previously filed a civil damage suit against Trillanes over the senator’s allegation that he was involved in graft and corruption.

Reacting to Duterte’s plan, Trillanes said: “That's another frivolous lawsuit meant to harass or divert my attention.”

“Clearly, during the Senate inquiry [last year], I was able to present circumstantial evidence of the links of Paolo Duterte to the major players involved in the P6.4 billion shabu shipment to include [customs fixer] Mark Taguba's testimony,” the senator said in a text message.

Trillanes said he “will not be cowed” by the administration whom he accused of using the justice system against the political opposition. —Virgil Lopez/KBK/RSJ, GMA News