Trillanes: Libel suit by Duterte kin meant to harass me

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Tuesday said that the libel case filed by members of President Rodrigo Duterte's family are meant to harass him.

“It’s very, very obvious that they are finding ways to shake me down, to harass me, but we will face it,” Trillanes said in a press briefing.

The senator confirmed that he has received a notice over the libel case filed by former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and lawyer Mans Carpio, the president's son-in-law. He said that he has been ordered to file a counter-affidavit on the libel complaint.

READ: Duterte’s son, in-law file libel suit vs Trillanes

Paolo Duterte, the president's son, accused Trillanes of defaming him and his family in a radio interview in Cebu. In the interview cited in the complaint, the senator accused Paolo of corruption and extortion involving Uber and other companies regulated by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, the Road Board and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Trillanes open to flying to Davao to face libel case

Trillanes said that he will answer the complaints, and he is even mulling the option to fly to Davao City.

“For me, if I need to go there, just to face it, I will go there,” the senator said in Filipino.

The senator remarked that the libel suit could just be the Dutertes' ploy to “bring me to their territory, where they are influential.”

The complaint had been filed before the Office of the City Prosecutor in Davao City, where presidential daughter Sara Duterte sits as mayor.

Trial courts, however, are under the Judiciary—not the executive branch—and exercises judicial independence.

Proclamation 572

The libel suit is just one in a string of legal challenge against Trillanes, whose amnesty President Rodrigo Duterte voided through Proclamation 572.

Last week, Labor Undersecretary Jacinto Paras filed a complaint of inciting to sedition or inciting to coup d'etat against the senator, claiming he had uged soldiers to rebel against the government.

Paras also wants Trillanes charged for allegedly calling Duterte insane.

Trillanes has brought Proclamation 572 to the Supreme Court, but the SC deemed that factual matters involving cases dismissed in 2011 should be dealt with by the trial courts.

Trillanes’ lawyer, Reynaldo Robles, attended two separate hearings last week at the Makati Regional Trial Court. The hearings are on the Department of Justice’s motion for the issuance of hold departure order and arrest against the senator.

The senator, since the publication of Proclamation 572, has been staying at the Senate in Pasay City.