PNP exec: Trillanes deserved ‘persona non grata’ tag, should study Davao crime stats

Philippine National Police (PNP) Directorate for Operations chief Director Camilo Cascolan on Wednesday scolded Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, saying that he deserved to be declared persona non grata in Davao City.

“Ewan ko kung ano motibo niya but I think he has to study his statistics. We will give him the stats if he wants to so he will know what is happening in Davao City,” Cascolan said.

The police official was referring to the Senator’s comment that the city allegedly had the highest murder rate and is the number one most dangerous city in the Philippines.

As a result of such a remark, the Davao City Council decided to declare Trillanes as persona non grata during its regular session on Tuesday.

As persona non grata, Trillanes is not welcome in Davao City.

“Good for him because he is actually doing a lot of fake news when it comes to murder and rape,” Cascolan said.

“He cannot say that Davao City is not safe. There was actually a survey I think it was done in 2015 or 2016 and Davao City is said to be the safest city considering that if you go out at night wala na problema,” he added.

In his privilege speech, Vice Mayor Bernard Al-ag had said Trillanes' comment was a big insult to them.

Trillanes has maintained that he only told the truth, saying that he only based his statement on the December 2015 statistics of the PNP.

"The people of Davao either know it but tolerate it out of fear or they've actually believed the lie that was fed to them that Davao City is the safest city in the world," Trillanes told GMA News Online. — MDM, GMA News