Duterte: Trillanes earned hidden wealth from backdoor talks in China

President Duterte linked Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s alleged hidden wealth to the latter’s trips to China in 2012 when Trillanes negotiated with Chinese officials at the height of the dispute on the West Philippine Sea.

Duterte, in an interview over PTV-4 Friday night, also said that Trillanes’ visit cost the Philippine government the Scarborough Shoal.

“Yung mga dummy na ‘yan o nagbigay sa kanya ng pera or otherwise ‘yung kinita niya sa China (Those dummy accounts, or the people who gave him money, or otherwise what he earned from China) when he was going back or forth eight or nine times sa China, tapos ‘yun ‘yung nagaccumulate yung mga pera niya (in China, that’s when he accumulated money). That was the time we lost the Scarborough Shoal,” Duterte said.

Former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile previously accused Trillanes of favoring China when the latter served as the Philippines’ backdoor negotiator tasked to diffuse tensions between the two countries.

It was reported that Trillanes allegedly had 16 secret meetings with Chinese officials about the Scarborough Shoal and the West Philippine Sea where he allegedly told them that the Filipinos don’t care about the disputed territory.

During the campaign period last year, Duterte himself brought up Trillanes’ meetings in China, calling the senator a “traitor.”

Duterte first brought up Trillanes’ alleged offshore accounts last week, saying he would also reveal the identities of the latter’s around 200 consultants.

He said Trillanes was bent on going after him and family, citing how Trillanes claimed that Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte was a member of a drug triad and allegedly played a role in the smuggling of a R6.4-billion illegal drug shipment from China in May, 2017.

“I’m coming out with Trillanes’ bank deposits all over (the world). Nakuha ko na. Akala kasi niya hindi ko rin kaya, eh (I got it. He thinks I cannot do it, too),” Duterte had said, referring to how Trillanes accused him of having millions of pesos of hidden wealth during the campaign period.

But unlike that event, Duterte said the evidence he obtained against the senator is not garbage.

“He’s bent on destroying me. I will destroy him or he will destroy me. Gano’n lang ‘yon (It’s as simple as that),” the President said.

Malacañang earlier clarified that Duterte only meant to “destroy” or put a stop on the “apparently wanton accusations” hurled against the President and his family.