Presidential son and former Vice Mayor Paolo Z. Duterte was elated after he was cleared by Bureau of Customs Deputy Collector Maria Lourdes Mangaoang dismissed him from involvement in drug smuggling.
“Masaya ako ngayon at unti-unti nang lumalabas ang totoo (I am now happy that the truth gradually surfaced),” Duterte said in his statement sent to Davao reporters.
He said this the proof that the allegations thrown to him by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV are merely lies and based only on gossips.
“Nagbabala na ako noon na dapat hindi paniwalaan ang mga sinasabi ni Trillanes dahil sa eksperto siya sa pagsisinungaling at paghabi ng tsismis at kwentong mapanira (I already warned before that people should not believe on Trillanes statement because he is an expert on lies and making gossips which are damaging to the reputation of the people), he said. Duterte said Trillanes’ allegation against him ruined not just his reputation but also to his family.
“Naapektohan ng mga paninirang ito ang aking pamilya, lalo na ang aking mga anak (His defamatorys statements affect my family especially my children), he said. He said the senator just want to deceive people through his lies and baseless accusations against him. “Isang bagay ang klaro ngayon — tsismoso ang senador na ito. Ang masama ay maging siya ay naniniwala sa kanyang sariling tsismis (One thing is clear now — the senator is a gossiper and the bad thing here is, he believes on his lies),” he said.
Duterte said he will continue to run after Trillanes for him to pay all the damages he made for his family and children. Last month, Duterte filed two libel cases against Trillanes over the P6.4 billion drug shipment accusation. The cases stemmed from the alleged defamatory statments of Trillanes from his two sepatate interviews at DZMM and CNN. On June 6, the senator accused the presidential son as the drug lord who worked on the multi-billion shabu shipment in an interview with Anthony Taberna and Jerry Baja in DZMM. On June 14,Trillanes accused Duterte the same thing as the biggest drug lord from Davao City who perpetrated the P6.4 billion shabu before CNN Anchor Pinky Webb.
