Duterte questions Pamatong's legal education, claims Trillanes has low IQ

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday slammed two of his critics accused of working for his ouster from Malacañang.

Duterte blasted Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who he had said is part of a destabilization plot against him, and Elly Pamatong, the suspended lawyer who had asked the Supreme Court (SC) to invalidate Duterte's victory in the 2016 presidential election.

The President said he was "surprised" why Pamatong was able to secure a law degree supposedly from the University of the Philippines, the country's premier state university.

"You'd be suprised why he was able to survive UP. With the highest standards sa Pilipinas in an educational institution, you'd be surpised Pamatong is a lawyer from UP," Duterte told reporters in Taguig City.

Duterte, meanwhile, questioned Trillanes' level of intelligence.

"[How come] Trillanes [was able] to survive PMA (Philippine Military Academy) given his character, his mouth and his low IQ (intelligence quotient"," Duterte said of Trillanes, a former Navy officer who gained prominence for leading unsuccessful attempts to topple the Arroyo administration.

In response, Trillanes, in a statement, challenged Duterte to an IQ test, saying he will resign as senator if the President scored higher than him.

Duterte's remarks came days after Trillanes took to Twitter to claim that Duterte is the "laziest, craziest and the worst president this country ever had."

pic.twitter.com/UzBkC8pVjF

— Sonny Trillanes IV (@TrillanesSonny) August 23, 2018

Duterte is facing a quo warranto petition filed by Pamatong, a former nuisance presidential candidate, on the ground that his certificate of candidacy was not approved by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The Comelec en banc, however, accepted Duterte's candidacy, as a substitute for then anti-crime advocate and now Interior Undersecretary Martin Diño, in December 2015.

Duterte went on to win the May 2016 elections with 16.6 million votes, a margin of over six million votes over his closest rival, former Interior Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II. 

Malacañang dismissed Pamatong's challenge as "utterly bereft of legal and factual merit" even as Duterte indicated on July 3 that he "would be happy to step down" if the SC granted the petition.

Trillanes, for his part, had filed a supplemental complaint last year with The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) to support claims of extrajudicial killings in connection with Duterte's campaign against illegal drugs.

Duterte in March pulled the Philippines out of the ICC, saying the tribunal has no jurisdiction over him.

Malacañang argued the war on drugs is a sovereign act and the tribunal may only exercise jurisdiction if the country's courts are unable or unwilling to hear cases related to drug-related killings.

The senator also openly accused Duterte of corruption and criticized the government's policy on the South China Sea dispute. —KBK, GMA News