Lawyer refuses to let Paolo Duterte bare his tattoo
Paolo Duterte, right, the eldest son of President Rodrigo Duterte confers with his counsel Ranier Madrid during the continuing senate probe on the more than half a ton of the illegal drug methamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as "shabu" worth $128 million (P6.4 Billion Pesos) from China which passed through customs Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, in Pasay City, Philippines. AP/Bullit Marquez
MANILA, Philippines — The lawyer of Paolo Duterte, the president's son, admitted on Thursday he was the one who did not allow his client to publicly bare his tattoo amid accusations that the body art links him to a crime group.
Ranier Madrid, Duterte's counsel, said it was inappropriate for the Davao City vice mayor to do so, and allowing him could be a ground for his disbarment.
Opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, the Duterte family's political foe, repeatedly asked the president’s son to show his tattoo, which he claimed will prove he is part of a “drug triad.” Duterte, however, refused to show it at the Senate blue ribbon panel hearing on Friday morning.
“I advised him. That’s a big insult,” Madrid told the reporters in a televised interview after the Senate inquiry into the P6.4 billion shabu shipment from China.
“Why do we have to play his game? Utouto ba kami? Will I let my client play his game? No way,” the ostensibly irritated Madrid said.
At the hearing, Trillanes claimed Duterte refused to bare his body art because the drug enforcement agency could trace it to the smuggling gang believed to be operating in Manila and Davao.
“So maliwanag talagang ayaw mo kasi ‘yun ang proof, nandyan sa likod mo at nandoon ‘yung digits—sacred digits—at kaya ayaw mo, kapag binigay sa DEA made-decode saan ka kasama,” Trillanes said.
Trillanes earlier called on Duterte and brother-in-law Manases “Mans” Carpio to attend the Senate hearing. The two brothers-in-law were indirectly linked to corrupt practices at the Bureau of Customs as allegedly part of the Davao Group. The group allegedly had a hand in the entry of a massive shabu shipment from China.
The senator, a staunch critic of Duterte, also said he is confident that he can expose the family's link to the illegal drug trade.
RELATED: Trillanes confident of evidence vs Paolo Duterte, Mans Carpio
Trillanes' accusations, if proven, will spell a disaster for President Duterte, whose brutal drug crackdown has killed thousands of mostly poor, male Filipinos in urban areas.
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