Trillanes says sedition raps ‘absurd but welcome’

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday said a plan by some lawyers to file sedition raps against him are “absurd” but still “welcome.”

“No matter how absurd these cases may seem, I actually welcome them because, as part of my legal defense, I would be able to prove my claim on Duterte's ill-gotten wealth,” Trillanes said in a statement.

“Specifically, I would be able to ask the court to subpoena his bank documents as an exemption to the Bank Secrecy Law,” the senator said.

A group of lawyers on Thursday accused Trillanes of inciting sedition, saying he urged the military, during a privilege speech, to kill President Rodrigo Duterte.

Former Negros Oriental congressman Jacinto Paras, referring to Trillanes' October 3 speech, said: "Trillanes is inciting to the military na patayin ang Presidente dahil katakot-takot ang kanyang kayamanan which was not proven."

Paras said the complaint against Trillanes is expected to filed either on Friday or next week after the special non-working holidays either at the Ombudsman or at the Department of Justice.

In his speech, Trillanes made no direct appeal for the military to kill Duterte, but merely said troops would probably have to use their M-60 machine guns against the President because of the volume of evidence proving the latter's ill-gotten wealth.

"Kung makikita ito ng mga sundalo, M-60 ang gagamitin sa'yo kasi marami-rami ito. Mauubos yung magasin, kung P40 million yung hinahanap mo," Trillanes had said.

Trillanes made the statement in relation to a speech made by Duterte in which he said anybody can shoot him if it is proven that his lifetime savings exceeded P40 million.

Trillanes had repeatedly accused Duterte of having bank transactions amounting to P2.2 billion from September 2006 to December 2015. — BM, GMA News