DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Davao City Council yesterday declared Sen. Antonio Trillanes persona non grata.
The Sangguniang Panglungsod adopted the separate proposals of Vice Mayor Bernard Al-ag who wanted Trillanes, along with American businesswoman Loida Nicolas-Lewis, declared persona non grata in this city.
As persona non grata, Trillanes and Lewis will not be welcome in Davao City.
Al-ag cited how Trillanes recently declared Davao City as the most dangerous city in the Philippines, even adding that the city is No. 1 in murder and No. 2 in rape.
“As a Dabawenyo, I take offense to the declaration of Mr. Trillanes. The statement is offensive, malicious and pure lies. In short, the statement is not true. This is fake news,” Al-ag said.
Trillanes, in a recent forum with Filipinos in Chicago, claimed Davao City had the highest murder rate and is the number one most dangerous city in the Philippines.
Lewis was believed to be behind the plot to oust President Duterte.
Duterte said he had knowledge of a transcript of a telephone conversation between Lewis and another individual talking about the announcement of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that a preliminary examination would be conducted on the case before the international tribunal.
Trillanes was also among those who filed the complaint of extrajudicial killings against Duterte before the ICC, along with lawyer Jude Sabio.
Trillanes had claimed Duterte was behind those killings when he was mayor of the city and up to now, in the President’s brutal war against drugs.
Duterte had been mayor of Davao City for 23 years and one term each as vice mayor and first district representative.
Al-ag debunked Trillanes’ claim that Davao residents have been brainwashed by Duterte.
Malacañang yesterday congratulated officials of Davao City for declaring Trillanes persona non grata.
“I do not know how you want me to react because this has nothing to do with the President and I speak for the President. Other than that, congratulations Davao City,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.
Trillanes, on the other hand, said he was only telling the truth.
“The truth, definitely, hurts,” 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.”
Trillanes said he will not take back his statement and called on the people of Davao City to open their eyes to the killings in Duterte’s home city.
He said he based his statements on the December 2015 data from the Philippine National Police showing Davao City as having the highest incidence of murder and second highest in rape in the country. – Paolo Romero, Alexis Romero