Paras on filing 3 complaints vs. Trillanes in 10 months: He deserves it

Labor Undersecretary Jacinto “Jing” Paras on Monday justified the series of complaints he filed and will file against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, saying the opposition senator "deserves" it.

"He's been very vocal about maligning the president, attempting to overthrow the government. He has to have his day in court," Paras said in an interview on ANC.

Paras is set to file his third complaint against Trillanes in 10 months on Wednesday, this time for allegedly inciting to sedition.

Trillanes' remark urging the military to resist President Rodrigo Duterte's "illegal" order to arrest him will be used by Paras as the basis for his complaint.

Paras, a former lawmaker, said he believes this comment could not be chalked up to freedom of speech as it undermined Duterte's authority as president.

"When you destroy the image of the leader, you have asked these people, these soldiers to lose respect for their commander in chief, you are actually creating a scenario for an overthrown government," he said.

Asked if he was ordered by someone to file the complaint, Paras said he is "his own man" and that these charges were filed of his own volition.

"I'm my own man. In fact, I have been successful in fighting against corruption," he said.

Paras also insisted on his credibility after Trillanes' comment on the his alleged theft of Akbayan party-list Representative Tom Villarin's phone was brought up.

"That's very libelous. Villarin has filed a case and it will be dismissed because even the [House] sergeant-at-arms says it might have been accidentally picked up while I was moving from one room to another," he said.

Duterte signed Proclamation 572 to revoke the amnesty granted to Trillanes in connection with his part in the the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny, the Marines Stand-Off, and the 2007 Manila Peninsula Incident.

Paras was appointed to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) some time after filing complaints against perceived political opponents of the Duterte administration.

Trillanes, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, Senator Risa Hontiveros, and resigned Commission on Election chairperson Andres Bautista were all subject to complaints by the volunteer lawyer of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News