MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has urged lawyer Jude Sabio to simply tell the truth, after the latter turned the tables on former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, in relation to a sedition complaint now pending before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Sabio led the filing of a communication about extrajudicial killings before the International Criminal Court, and is also counsel of alleged self-confessed Davao death squad hit man Edgar Matobato.
Duterte is seemingly seeing himself as the one who would have the last laugh, following reports that the Office of the Solicitor General moved to subpoena Sabio in relation to the sedition complaint filed against Trillanes before the DOJ. But the move was rejected by the DOJ panel of prosecutors.
In an interview Tuesday evening, Duterte said he would advise Sabio to just tell the truth on whatever testimony he would now give before any court.
Duterte claimed he had not met Sabio personally.
“So, unless magkausap kami, matanong ko, ‘Bakit? Ano ba talaga ang totoo, adre?’ And he says that he wants to testify, sabihin ko lang, ‘Yeah, you just tell the truth’,” the President said.
“If the truth favors Trillanes and all, fine. Kung it favors... May nag-file eh, pero hindi ako. I never filed because those are the – what you would call the vagaries of politics,” Duterte added.
The Chief Executive first mentioned Sabio’s predicament in his speech before the League of Vice Governors of the Philippines in Malacañang last Tuesday, while he was hitting online media site Rappler.
He downplayed anew the claims of a certain “Bikoy” about his family’s alleged illegal wealth.
“Pa-Bikoy-Bikoy, sinasakyan rin nila. O ngayon nakita mo ’yung Bikoy eh ‘di pati ang madre,” Duterte said.
“Tapos ‘yung si Jude – ‘yung kanilang Jude Sabio bumaligtad na ngayon. Gusto na siya na ang witness kay Trillanes sa sedition. Kita mo ang politika ng Pilipinas,” he said.
Peter Joemel “Bikoy” Advincula was the hooded man who appeared in the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos that circulated online prior to the May 2019 elections. He accused the President and his family of being involved in the operations of drug syndicates in the country, but later retracted his claims and claimed that Trillanes and members of the opposition were behind the video production. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe