“My advice to all? If you are called to the Senate…sign it,” exclaimed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte amid calls for a Senate investigation into allegations against his son Paolo and kin who have been accused of facilitating large-scale drug smuggling in the city of Davao.
Duterte’s children, Sara and Paolo, are currently the mayor and vice-mayor of the president’s hometown, respectively. The Duterte family has effectively ruled Davao as its fiefdom for the past three decades and have been particularly close to the vibrant Chinese-Filipino business community in the country’s south, which has also been accused of involvement in various illicit trades.
The Filipino leader has advised his son to “remain silent” and reassured him of “help from me [Duterte] as President.” He lashed out at the country’s highest legislative office, describing the Senate as an “oppressor” which “will get nothing” out of questioning his son, daughter and family members.
Duterte and his family have categorically denied any wrongdoing, describing the accusations as politically-motivated. The tough-talking president, who has dedicated much of his time in office to a brutal anti-narcotics campaign that has claimed over 9,000 lives, has repeatedly said that he would resign from office if any of his family members were found guilty of involvement in the illegal drug trade.
Duterte has directed his ire in particular at Senator Antonio Trillanes, a former soldier and one of his government’s leading legislative critics.
With characteristic venom and bluster, the populist leader has described the opposition senator, who has called on Duterte’s son to appear before the legislators, as a “political ISIS” — referring to the notorious transnational terrorist group Islamic State — and “ignorant” of the law.
Trillanes struck back by accusing the president of “panicking because we’re [the Senate] close to divulging the illegal activities of his family.”
For the past two months, the Philippine Senate has conducted a high-profile investigation into alleged smuggling of more than six billion pesos worth of shabu, or crystal methamphetamine, from China through the notoriously corrupt Bureau of Customs (B0C).
The sensational investigations, which have dominated national headlines in recent weeks, led to the resignation of BoC Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon, a key Duterte ally, who ironically was a co-plotter of the so-called Oakwood Mutiny in 2003 with Trillanes. The two former soldiers, however, currently find themselves on opposite sides of the political fence.
The Senate investigations, which have seen heated exchanges between Trillanes and Faeldon, have exposed a dense web of illegal drug trading allegedly involving Chinese-Filipino businessmen and senior government officials. One of the witnesses, Mark Taguba, directly implicated the president’s son as an alleged key player in the so-called “Davao group” at the customs bureau in Davao City.
Duterte’s son-in-law, Maneses Carpio, the husband of Davao Mayor Sarah, was also implicated by Taguba. Carpio has dismissed the accusations as baseless and accused his detractors, namely Trillanes, as “a desperate rumor monger who happens to be a Senator.”
Taguba has recently recanted his accusations against the presidential son and son-in-law.
“I am making this statement to clear Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and Attorney Manse Carpio from any involvement in the shipment of illegal drugs into the country, and any anomalies in the Bureau of Customs,” said Taguba in a statement on September 1.
Duterte’s critics, however, claim that the witness was likely under political duress to recant his statement, particularly amid a state-sponsored killing spree of drug suspects, thus there is still a need to conduct thorough and balanced investigations into the accusations against the president’s family members.
Philippine lawmakers proposed last week to increase by 4,400% to 900 million pesos (US$17.58 million) the police’s drug war budget for 2018.
Indeed, the Filipino president can count on his allies in the Senate to block or frustrate any substantial investigation. Senator Richard Gordon, whom Duterte has affectionately described as his possible successor, has vigorously opposed calls for summoning the President’s son and son-in-law to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigating the allegations.
He urged his Senate colleague Trillanes to provide actual evidence before subjecting the presidential family to a high profile and sensationalized investigation. The ensuing exchanges on August 31 became particularly heated, with Gordon filing an ethics complaint against his rambunctious counterpart for supposedly behaving “unparliamentarily.”
Duterte’s allies, who dominate the legislature, have accused their opponents of launching unwarranted investigations to undermine the administration. Though they will likely insulate the president’s family from any criminal proceedings, the ongoing probe has dented Duterte’s public image and claims of moral rectitude.
This could inevitably undermine his political capital, especially amid rising discontent with the conduct of his bloody anti-narcotics campaign. The coldblooded murder of teenager Kian Loyd delos Santos by police officers in August, caught on CCTV, has galvanized strong public opposition to Duterte’s extrajudicial methods.
Sensing a potentially disastrous political backlash, the president made the unprecedented move of not only admitting a mistake, but also meeting the family of the victim. Duterte promised accountability for the erring police officials, which have been accused of resorting to torture and extrajudicial killings against suspected drug users as well as innocent bystanders.
While Duterte will likely continue his violent and increasingly expensive drug war with a greater focus on high-value targets and alleged ‘narco-politicians’, his aura of invincibility is starting to slip as the drug hysteria starts to hunt even his own family.
Looking at the situation per se would give a naive person the idea that the person who started the drug war is indeed into it. On the contrary if one would think things logically why would a person start an investigation knowing that they themselves will be implicated in the said investigation. I believe that some people are only trying to row the boat away from the clearer picture, why would the highest person in the land steer the boat towards their own demise? The highest person in the land could have just focused on other things like infrastructure, education, war on terror, invasion of foreign lands, poverty, going after detractors, etc.. All these things would be enough to finish the 6 years term if truly the highest person in the land is into drugs (smuggling, kingpin, etc.). I do hope people would think smart and not let their emotions get into their minds. We Filipinos are better than this, we have lived beyond illussions of grandeur, and I believe we can see thru this too. Let us support the current administrations movement, I’m pretty sure we are getting closer to catching the big fish, let’s not allow other people destroy the change to a brighter future.
lol it’s like attempts to make Putin look bad. Probably will see similar results!
I see a headline which askes a question like " Is Duterte’s family involved in the drug trade?" and I immediately skip the article, which isn’t the author’s fault because an editor wrote the stupid headline. Asking a question isn’t news.
Any leader of a country that is so weak that they describe poverty stricken drug addicts as a "threat to the Republic" is obviously using the scapegoats or is stupid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
D30 is not interested in just continuing the status quo. Operative reports by the NBI and the BOC have pointed to pulong D30 as being a smuggling lord in davao since 2007. The d30 family bizness is now expanding into the nationwide control of the drug trade, as such they need to control supply and distribution. The need to control distribution is the reason why d30 has to kill and terrorize thousands of pushers. He needs to eliminate the competing distribution channels. This will leave a monopoly, which is the intended goal…control the supply and wipeout the competitors sales infrastructure. That is the game d30 is playing.
D30 is not interested in just continuing the status quo. Operative reports by the NBI and the BOC have pointed to pulong D30 as being a smuggling lord in davao since 2007. The d30 family bizness is now expanding into the nationwide control of the drug trade, as such they need to control supply and distribution. The need to control distribution is the reason why d30 has to kill and terrorize thousands of pushers. He needs to eliminate the competing distribution channels. This will leave a monopoly, which is the intended goal…control the supply and wipeout the competitors sales infrastructure. That is the game d30 is playing.
D30 is not interested in just continuing the status quo. Operative reports by the NBI and the BOC have pointed to pulong D30 as being a smuggling lord in davao since 2007. The d30 family bizness is now expanding into the nationwide control of the drug trade, as such they need to control supply and distribution. The need to control distribution is the reason why d30 has to kill and terrorize thousands of pushers. He needs to eliminate the competing distribution channels. This will leave a monopoly, which is the intended goal…control the supply and wipeout the competitors sales infrastructure. That is the game d30 is playing.
The last line cannot be further from the truth.
Julian Manongdo
Can i ask whose last line is furthest from the truth?
Senator Gordon did not at all indicate he is against the summon of the President’s son and son-in-law. The allegations were based on the text message by Taguba’s cohort About a certain person connected to the President’s son. Taguba doesn’t have a proof much so some paper trails to prove of any involvement by Duterte’s son/in law. Why will you put someone in the BOC (Faeldon) who is determined to reform the Dept and in the process will surface all the smuggling activities? Isn’t that plain stupidity at its finest when everything will be just traced back to you, putting the very core of your campaign all to waste? Trillanes is full (Fool) of bullshit. All sourgraping. An evil eye who can’t see good on anything! A person who caught all the negative particles showered from space and affected of all body parts….his brain! Illegal drug is a social menace. Can’t you not see that? We have seen a lot of people wasting their lives, losing their minds and families (not in thousands but in millions!!!!!). Find the ratio againts the number who got killed by this war on drugs (by the way, all wars has casualties!) againts the number who got addicted and created havoc to their families and society. Previous administrations allowed the drug trade to proliferate in this country and they hate the only man who wants to clean up the mess they created! Of course! That will curtail the flow of dirty money! Bottomline, it’s all greed and love of money! Put in your will to write a check equivalent to everything you own so you can bring them in your next life and be happy with what you accomplished during your earthly life! Let us compare notes with what we brought with us!
Eric Juan Cabanos Lava that’s a lot BS…ur just like trillanes…come to dvo and ask people there…
Kon may involvement ng shabu drugs shipmant walang iba yang c TRELLIANES aka Tita Nani. Na hanggang ngayon walang makapagtuturo kon sino c Tita Nani na palaging binabanggit sa tuwing hearing..
Lahat gagawin ni Trellianes upang ibagsak ang admin ni Duterte.. Liberal party has nothing contribute good in this country. We believe 100% fully support to our Pres. DIGONG..
of course a hearsay maybe true..but then, still 10000000% DUTERTE..Jason you are still a non sense..
Eric Juan Cabanos Lava "The war on terrorism and drugs has been a success." –> LIE
Julian Manongdo President Aquino did nearly nothing to fight terrorism and drugs. President Duterte has from day one addressed those problems. Several hundred terrorists have been killed. Maute group reduced to nearly nothing. Abu Sayyaf has lost many cadres and joint naval patrols make it more difficult for Abu Sayyaf to kidnap sailors. The war on terrorism has given nearly two MILLION Filipinos a second chance for a good and productive life.
ONLY 4.000 Filipinos has been killed by the PNP. The rest of the killings has been done by vigilantes, but Duterte’s enemies blame it on the PNP. Still there is a lot to do. Especially in the Red-Light districts were many girls are lured to start using drugs. We will see the crime right drop and tourist will feel safe. Let us hope President Duterte is successful with the war on corruption. The Philippines as a nation is a rich country, it is only the people living there that are poor.
Let the truth emerge…..
Eric Juan Cabanos Lava
All scripted by Trillanes and the organization behind him including biased media.