Charles Teves
In a taped public address aired on Friday morning, President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to have former senator Antonio Trillanes IV slapped by his driver.
Pres. Duterte was talking about budget adjustments after Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez said P352.7 billion has already been spent on COVID-19 measures in the country.
“‘Yan po ang ano ang problema natin ngayon. May cash ho tayo pero may — wala ho tayong authority gumastos ng ganun kalaki,” Dominguez said.
Duterte, as usual, went off-script to attack his political adversaries. Responding to a previous tweet by Trillanes on how the government has a budget of P4 trillion, Duterte fired back at the former senator.
Four Trillion ang budget mo, tapos hahanapan mo ako ng ambag? Batukan kaya kita.
— Sonny Trillanes IV (@TrillanesSonny) April 16, 2020
Duterte said Trillanes has lost his mind.
“’Yang sinasabi ni isa pa itong walang alam na ugok itong si Trillanes. Nagsasalita ng trillion trillion, trillion ng hangin. Trillion of cubic meters of air in your head and it is too tight that is why para kang buang na nagsasalita ka ng trillon.”
He added that he’ll have his driver slap Trillanes.
“Puro porma, puro hambog, puro hamon at batukan mo raw ako? Sabihin ko sa driver ko sampalin ka. Ang driver ko na ang utusan ko. Ang tingin ko sa iyo, ka-level mo driver,”
During previous televised briefings, Duterte has attacked human rights lawyer Chel Diokno saying that the latter talks like a janitor.
“Leche ka, galit ako sa’yo, ulol ka.
“Problema sa’yo, ‘pag nagsalita ka, ang laki ng ngipin mo kaya na-discourage ang mga tao.
“Pag magkita tayo, patalsikin ko isang ngipin mo,” said the president.
Trillanes is arguably Duterte’s biggest critic in politics. The former senator has long said that Duterte has amassed billions in ill-gotten funds.
“Duterte’s war on drugs is a sham. It’s a misdirection. This is what he does to deflect suspicion,” Trillanes told TIME.
“Duterte himself was part of the illegal drug trade in Davao City when he was mayor. They were using Davao City Port as a trans-shipment point for illegal drugs.”
Trillanes also said that Duterte and his allies will do anything to silence him.
“De Lima legally, by incarcerating her, and myself through political assassination.”
But interestingly, Trillanes asked Duterte to back his Vice Presidential bid in 2016, and said that the didn’t know that Duterte was a ‘murderer’ at that time.
It’s safe to say that both men won’t be burying the hatchet anytime soon.
