Trillanes files smuggling, graft raps vs. Pulong Duterte, Mans Carpio, Faeldon

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Wednesday filed drug smuggling and graft complaints against Davao Representative Paolo Duterte, lawyer Mans Carpio, and former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, among others, over a P6.4 billion shabu shipment that was seized in 2017.

In an interview after the filing at the Department of Justice, Trillanes said they gathered documentary and testimonial evidence from a Senate inquiry in 2017.

“Ganito ‘yung naging sistema, ang pinaka drug lord dito ay si Charlie Tan na ka-partner ito ni Michael Yang. Magkapareho sila ng triad, tapos ang naging protektor ay sila Pulong Duterte at Mans Carpio,” Trillanes said.

(Their system was the main drug lord was a certain Charlie Tan who was a partner of Michael Yang. They were in the same triad and their protector was Pulong Duterte and Mans Carpio.)

“Tapos ang mga naging facilitators naman nito na naipasok ito at naipuslit palabas ng Customs ay sila Faeldon… at iba na namention doon sa case,” he added.  

(And the facilitators that allowed the drugs to go out of Customs were Faeldon… and others mentioned in the complaint.)

The three individuals and seven others were accused of violation of Section 4 in relation to Section 26(a) of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 as amended by RA 10640; as well as RA 3019 or The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Duterte, the eldest son of former President Rodrigo Duterte, welcomed the complaint, saying that it will allow them to address the allegations before the proper legal channels and not on social media. 

“I have always maintained my innocence, and I am confident that the judicial process will clear my name. It is important to rely on our legal institutions rather than resorting to trial by publicity or baseless allegations,” Duterte said in a statement.

"This move will allow us to address these accusations through the proper legal channels, ensuring that the truth will prevail. Please bear in mind that this is the similar case that Mr. Trillanes has made a fool out of himself when he presented his alleged evidences against me.... as a mercenary,” Duterte added.

Duterte also said he is looking forward to the resolution of the libel cases that he filed against Trillanes.

Yang was not included in the complaint. When asked to respond on Trillanes' statement, Atty. Raymond Fortun, Yang's legal counsel, said: "I have no comment po."

GMA News Online also sought comment from Carpio and Faeldon but has yet to receive a response as of posting time.

Trillanes said he filed the case only now as the Dutertes can no longer influence the judiciary.

“Just to be clear, 'yung judiciary naman natin, by and large, functioning siya at patas siya, except for the cases na may interes 'yung mga Duterte. Pag sa ganon, talagang minamaniobra nila at pinipilit ‘yung batas at ‘hudikatura para mapaburan sila at maproteksyunan sila,” he said.

(Just to be clear, our judiciary is, by and large, functioning and fair except in some instances when the Dutertes have an interest in a case. They try to manipulate the law and the judiciary to be in their favor and protect them.)

The complaint stemmed from the more than 600 kilograms of shabu discovered by authorities from a warehouse in Valenzuela City in May 2017.

Trillanes noted that this led the Senate blue ribbon committee to conduct public hearings, which revealed that the drugs were given a "green lane" passage to slip through the Bureau of Customs' alert system and were not subjected to physical inspection and document verification. —with Llanesca T. Panti/AOL/KBK, GMA Integrated News