FORMER Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is once again making attacks on former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte by linking him to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in relation to Duterte’s war on drugs campaign.
Recently, Trillanes said that the ICC is expected to issue a warrant of arrest against former President Duterte around the time of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July this year.
But the most recent statement of Trillanes was that there are active and retired members of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines who are allegedly being recruited to join a destabilization plot against President Marcos Jr.
The former senator claims that this is intended to protect Duterte amid the looming warrant of arrest that he says is expected to be issued by the ICC.
However, former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo said that Trillanes is simply riding on the popularity of former President Duterte.
“Yesterday, many media networks texted me – what do I have to say about Trillanes? [Because] there are new statements. I said, ‘You know that person – the renegade.”
“Because if you attack Duterte or praise him, you’ll be on the tabloid. That is what he is doing – he’ll be running [for a position]. He’s running for I don’t know what he’s running for,” Atty. Salvador ‘Sal’ Panelo, Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel stated.
Duterte’s critic has already signaled the possibility for him to run for mayor in Caloocan City in the upcoming 2025 elections.
It can be remembered that Trillanes failed to make a comeback in the Senate in 2022.
Based on official voting results, he came 21st place among senatorial candidates in the previous elections.
Meanwhile, Atty. Panelo shared that the former president is aware of Trillanes’ statements against Duterte but simply laughs it off.
