Trillanes to admin critics: Be enraged about killings, not just Alvarez's affair

Those questioning the morality of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez over his extramarital affair should feel more enraged about the killings under the Duterte administration, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said Tuesday.

“Kung yun lang ino-notice natin about morality, eh itong isa, pino-promote nga pagpatay eh,” Trillanes said, referring to President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Sa 'kin doon muna tayo magalit, dapat pumuputok yung butsi natin doon kasi pagpatay yan eh. That’s universal eh. That’s not even relative,” he said.

Trillanes refused to comment on Alvarez’s affair, saying private lives of public officials are none of his business.

“Yung public, public. Yung private, private. So I stick to the public. Ang sa ’kin, what happens in your bedroom is your business for as long as it doesn’t cross over to the public life,” Trillanes said.

The senator also doubts that the controversy will affect Alvarez’s position as House Speaker.

Alvarez had admitted having another relationship apart from his second wife. He said he and his wife, Emelita, are separated and have not spoken in a while, even though she heads the Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc.

The issue came to light amid Alvarez's rift with Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr., the subject of a graft complaint the Speaker filed recently. Alvarez has denied that the rift began after a quarrel between the two representatives' girlfriends.

In a statement, Floirendo's partner, Cathy Binag, identified the Speaker’s girlfriend as Jennifer Maliwanag Vicencio, with whom she had an “altercation” at the Masskara Festival in Bacolod City “late last year.” —KBK, GMA News