Trillanes goes to Davao, pleads not guilty to libel

DAVAO CITY, Philippines  —  Opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday pleaded not guilty to the four libel cases filed against him by former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte and his brother in-law Manases Carpio.

Trillanes came here, hometown of President Duterte, to post bail of P24,000 for each case after he was ordered arrested by Regional Trial Court Branch 54 Judge Melinda Dayanghirang last December.

The younger Duterte and Carpio filed the libel charges against Trillanes after the senator accused them during a 2017 interview in Cebu City of extorting money from the ride-hailing firm Uber.

“All the incredible lies Mr. Trillanes has invented to destroy me and my family are finally catching up with him. We all know that Trillanes is a pathological liar and today marks the beginning of our search for the truth and justice,” Paolo said in a statement yesterday.

Trillanes arrived at 5:40 a.m. yesterday on board a Philippine Airlines flight and was scheduled to return to Manila later in the afternoon.

“The world turns. Time will come when challenges confront them. They should be ready also,” Trillanes told reporters following his arraignment here.

Trillanes was declared persona non grata by the city council last year. But the senator was surprised by the warm reception of Davaoeños yesterday, he said.

“It was a political move of the Davao City council, the persona-non-grata (declaration), but I am glad of the warm welcome I received here in this city,” Trillanes said. 

The senator also said he had no problems with security as he was confident that no one would do any malicious act against him while he was here.

But Malacañang claimed Trillanes was afraid to return to jail and was only making it appear that he was ready to face the charges against him. 

“(Trillanes) said I’m here to face the challenge, meaning he could have chosen not to go there. He was making it appear that he was there to accept the challenge. My response to him is: you have no choice. If you did not go (to Davao City), you would be arrested immediately,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said at a press briefing yesterday. 

“The problem with this guy is, he pompously claims to be unafraid of the criminal charges against him and yet his body language, his rantings against the President show the opposite. He is in mortal fear of going back to jail,” Panelo said. – With Alexis Romero