Trillanes declared persona non grata in Davao City

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV shrugged off the decision of the Davao City Council, declaring him “persona non grata” in the bailiwick of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Local officials on Tuesday passed a resolution, declaring Trillanes persona non grata, or an unwelcomed person, in Davao City over his remarks that the city was “the most dangerous city in the Philippines.”

But the opposition senator, in response to the declaration, maintained that he only told the “truth,” citing supposed data coming from the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“The truth really hurts. My statement was based on the December 2015 statistics of the PNP that Davao has the highest incidence of murder and second highest in rape,” Trillanes said in a statement.

“The people of Davao either know it but tolerate it out of fear, or they’ve actually believed the lie that was fed to them that Davao City is the safest city in the world,” he added.

Davao City Vice Mayor Bernard Al-ag, who pushed for the passage of resolution, said their people were angered by Trillanes’ statements.

“As a Dabawenyo, I take offense to the declaration of Mr. Trillanes. This statement is offensive, malicious and pure lies. In short, this statement is not true. This is fake news,” Al-ag said.

“Mr. Trillanes went to the United States of America just to portray Davao City as a dangerous place – a place full of criminals, a city of murderers, a city of rapists. Worse, he even described the Dabawenyos as [brainwashed],” Al-ag said.