(Eagle News) — Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said on Tuesday, Jan. 15, that he personally appeared at his arraignment for libel before the Davao City Regional Trial Court to plead not guilty to four counts of libel filed against him by former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte and his brother in law, Manases Carpio.
The young Duterte and Carpio filed the libel cases against the opposition senator who accused them of extorting money from Uber and other ride-hailing companies.
“Nag-plea ako ng ‘not guilty’ (I pleaded ‘not guilty’,” Trillanes told mediamen later.
He insisted that the libel cases were mere harassment against him.
It was the first time that Trillanes set foot in Davao City since the city declared him persona non grata a year ago after her claimed that it was a dangerous city.
“Mga harassment cases lang po ito talaga just to inconvenience me para ma-distract ako. Pero di ako madi-distract, I will continue with my mandate as a member of the opposition,” he told reporters.
(All these are just harassment cases just to inconvenience and to distract me. But I will not be distracted. I will continue with my mandate as a member of the opposition.)
“Nandirito tayo ngayon sa Davao para harapin ito, para ipakita natin na hindi natin tinatakbuhan o tinatalikuran ang mga ganitong hamon,” he added.
(I am here in Davao to face these, to show that I am not running away or backing down from these challenges.)
The Davao City RTC branch 54 had earlier ordered Trillanes’ arrest for libel. The senator had already posted a P96,000 bail for the cases.
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