Wife of former diplomat: Trillanes’ obsession in bringing down Duterte already ridiculous

Sen. Antonio Trillanes and VM Paolo Duterte, photo from SunStar

Betsy Tiglao, wife of former diplomat Rigoberto Tiglao, in her column for the Manila Bulletin on Friday, said that Senator Antonio Trillanes’ obsession with bringing down President Rodrigo Duterte and his son Paolo Duterte has “entered the realm of the ridiculous” after the latter kept on implicating Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte for involvement in the disputed Chinese drug trade.

During the senate hearing, Trillanes accused Paolo Duterte and his brother-n-law Manases Carpio to the illegal drug trade, his evidence being media clippings and photos.



“We expected an explosive report after Trillanes bragged about an exposé on Paolo – but this was just dull,” Tiglao said.

The columnist added that the only “exciting” event that coccured was when Trillanes asked Duterte to take off his shirt to show a dragon tattoo on his back which according to Trillanes, is proof that the Vice Mayor is part of a Chinese TRIAD.

Duterte invoked his right to privacy and against self-incrimination after being asked to take off his shirt, answered with a “no way” and asked if Trillanes was gay.

Betsy Tiglao

Tiglao said that because of Trillanes, people had almost forgotten that the Senate Blue Ribbon hearing is supposed to be about the seamless entry of P6.4 billion worth of shabu through the Bureau of Customs.

Tiglao blamed Mark Taguba, a customs fixer who first implicated the Dutertes to drug dealing in Davao, for having given Trillanes the “opening” for his accusations.

“What Taguba did was to give Trillanes an opening to be able to drag into the fray his political enemy President Rodrigo Duterte, by alleging that Paolo was involved in the illegal drugs trade. That this was a proxy hearing was confirmed when Trillanes rehashed an old allegation against the Dutertes, that of their supposed hidden wealth in several banks. But unlike Patricia Bautista who held Andres Bautista’s passbooks in her hands as proof of her husband’s unexplained wealth, Trillanes only had printouts and no official documents nor any testimony from any bank official,” she said.



She also said that she is “bothered” by how traditional media is giving Trillanes a free rein to explore his anti-Duterte crusade without evidence.

Tiglao also contended the evidence presented by the senator.

“Trillanes said he obtained “intelligence” about Paolo’s supposed dragon tattoo from a “foreign country” but he refused to elaborate except to say the US Drug Enforcement Agency could decode its hidden digits. We could get “intelligence,” too, from foreign shows such as Blindspot but we don’t run to media about it.”

Tiglao quoted Senator Richard Gordon in saying that Trillanes should “stop his editorializing”.

“The question is how long will media and the Senate itself allow Trillanes to make false claims before he is called out on it? Is the media afraid of the ferocious Trillanes or it just loves that he is such sensationalist copy? The Senate, too, will be tested when it takes on the ethics complaint of Gordon against Trillanes. Will it continue to be enthralled by their outrageous colleague, or will they finally impose some discipline among their ranks?,” Tiglao said.

Source: Manila Bulletin

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