Palace tells Trillanes to shut up

MALACANANG on Thursday asked Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to refrain from issuing further statements regarding his role as backchannel negotiator in the country's territorial dispute with China.

Trillanes has been busy accommodating media interviews since Wednesday after he walked out from the Senate session when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile started questioning him of his backchannel negotiations with Chinese officials.

The neophyte senator said that his service was tapped by President Benigno Aquino III to help deescalate tensions in Scarborough Shoal.

He added that his trips to China, which Enrile said were at least 16 times, were paid by Malacañang.

Lacierda maintained that Trillanes volunteered his services to help in the country's issue with China over the West Philippine Sea.

"The President mentioned in his recollection that he was approached. So are they consistent, inconsistent? We don't know. But all I'm saying is the President was approached by Senator Trillanes," he said.

Lacierda said, however, that he is not privy to the details on Trillanes supposed trips.

The spokesperson then urged Trillanes to stop doing media rounds and solve the issue privately.

"The reason why the President is silent is because, rather than engage media first, he would like to speak to both Secretary del Rosario and Senator Trillanes. I think that's the most decent thing to do. And I think that's a modicum of decency on our part," he said.

He said that Aquino already texted Trillanes not to issue statements anymore, while del Rosario has been following the President's gag order since Wednesday.

Lacierda described the situation between the former rebel soldier and the senior diplomat as "unnecessary nuisance."

Malacañang, meantime, distanced itself from the ongoing verbal tussle between Trillanes and Enrile, saying that it maintains a good relationship with the senior lawmaker. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)