Duterte wants son, chief critic in Congress showdown

PORT MORESBY — President Duterte said his son Paolo might get back at Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV if he becomes congressman of Davao City. 

Trillanes grilled the younger Duterte during a Senate inquiry on illegal drugs. Paolo has denied involvement in the narcotics trade, and subsequently resigned as vice mayor of Davao City.

“I think he is running for congressman because he was embarrassed. Trillanes embarrassed him. He was summoned to Congress. Trillanes is like that. He would hit your family, not you, and summon them,” Duterte said. 

“Ayaw ko sanang ikwento ‘yon (I did not want to talk about it) but Pulong (Paolo’s nickname) ang ano niyan gaganti talaga ‘yan (He is seeking revenge). He will be running for congressman. Tabla sila diyan (They will be co-equals),” he added.

Duterte said Paolo and Trillanes should shoot each other when they see each other in Congress. 

“Ang sabi ko magkaaway man kayo ni Trillanes pagdating ninyo sa Congress, magbarilan kayo. At mamatay ka, ililibing kita (I said ‘If you and Trillanes meet in Congress, shoot each other. If you die, I would bury you’). That’s how it is,” the President said. 

Even if Paolo wins as congressman of Davao’s first district, he and Trillanes won’t be in the legislature together next year because the senator is not running for any post in the midterm polls after two terms in the Senate.

Duterte blamed Trillanes for the death of former military chief Angelo Reyes, who committed suicide after facing a Senate probe on the alleged systemic corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. 

“The guy (Reyes) tried to stand up and said, ‘I just want to protect my dignity’... He (Trillanes) said ‘You sit down because you do not have any dignity’,” Duterte said. 

“He (Reyes) went to the cemetery, to the tomb of his mother and committed suicide because he was shamed.” 

Duterte also compared the Magdalo group to Islamic State terrorists, saying the public should be wary of some members of the group that included his top critics.

Duterte claimed the Magdalo, a group of rebel soldiers who accused former president Gloria Arroyo of corruption and demanded her resignation, are not capable of anything but kill and disrespect people.

“Be careful with Magdalo. Be careful of the Magdalo party. They are the rebel soldiers who made a mess out of Makati and in The Peninsula (hotel). And they destroyed everything,” the President told the Filipino community here the other day, referring to the uprisings staged by the rebel soldiers.

“Parang ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) ang mga buang (Those crazies are like ISIS),” he added.

Magdalo members faced rebellion charges over the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege. Its members, including vocal Duterte critics Trillanes and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, were granted amnesty by Arroyo’s successor former president Benigno Aquino III.

The IS, meanwhile, is a terrorist group that seeks to establish a worldwide caliphate and is notorious for kidnapping and beheading non-Muslims.

Duterte said IS knows nothing but to kill, challenge and malign.

He went on to lambast Trillanes, whom he said was able to remain in the Senate despite doing the “worst” things in his lifetime.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo threw the proverbial sink against Trillanes who expressed concern over the Chief Executive’s decision to skip some of the meetings at the 33rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) here.

Panelo said the senator was merely using the President for his publicity stunts.

In an attempt to call attention to himself, the “erstwhile rebel soldier has embarked on his usual publicity getting stunts by maligning the President,” Panelo said.

Panelo justified further the chief executive’s absence in a number of meetings last Tuesday.

“The event did not require his physical presence. President Trump sent US Vice-President Pence to represent him in the ASEAN summit because the former was unable to make it,” he said.

Trillanes criticized Duterte for sleeping while other world leaders held meetings during a summit in Singapore.

Duterte’s fiercest critic, Trillanes said the President’s naps can either be indicators of his health condition or supposed laziness, noting that it’s a “big problem” for the Philippines.

“Accusation that the President is lazy or seriously ill to perform his functions as head of state and government just because he had to take power naps in between a few events to catch on some sleep and energize himself and avoid the embarrassment of dozing off during one of the meetings (as one head of state pitifully succumbed to due to the energy sapping daily activities) is a product of a witless if not malicious mind,” Panelo said.

The Palace official pointed out that the President was able to attend all scheduled events during the last day of the 33rd ASEAN Summit and Related Summits. 

These include the ASEAN-India Informal Breakfast Summit, the 6th ASEAN-US Summit, the 21st ASEAN Plus Three Summit, the 13th East Asia Summit, and the closing ceremony for the 33rd ASEAN Summit. He also held a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before he departed for Papua New Guinea to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

“We assure our people that the President is more than able to fulfill his commitment to the nation,” he said. – With Christina Mendez