MANILA – Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday filed a third libel complaint before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against the 18 former bodyguards of fugitive lawmaker Zaldy Co.
In his 27-page complaint, Trillanes also named as respondents Senators Allan Peter Cayetano and Rodante Marcoleta over statements made during a June 4 alleged hearing on anomalous flood control projects.
The complaint stemmed from a proceeding pushed by the Cayetano bloc despite acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian's announcement a day earlier that no official Senate business would be conducted on that day.
"It bears stressing that the June 4, 2016 so-called 'Blue Ribbon hearing' was a pre-meditated, politically motivated stunt intended to do ulterior and unjustifiable harm to political figures critical of the Duterte family, including institutions such as in this case, the ICC (International Criminal Court)," Trillanes said.
Trillanes alleged that the 18 former bodyguards, some of them claiming to be former members of the Philippine Marines, acted in concert with Cayetano and Marcoleta.
"At the onset, it is important to point out that the Respondents 18 'ex-marines' clearly conspired and confederated with one another, and with their cohorts respondents Cayetano and Marcoleta, as shown by their unity of action, design, and purpose: their act of executing a clearly malicious and dubious Pinagsamang Sinumpaang Salaysay, and their act of jointly attending the June 4, 2026 so-called 'Blue Ribbon hearing', boosting each other's claims, goading each to speak, propounding leading questions and supporting each other’s lies," Trillanes said.
During the June 4 proceeding, the former bodyguards alleged that they had been tasked to transport bags of cash from funds supposedly linked to anomalous flood control projects.
They claimed some of the money was delivered to personalities critical of former president Rodrigo Duterte, including Trillanes, and was allegedly intended to support efforts related to the International Criminal Court's investigation into the Duterte administration's war on drugs.
Trillanes has repeatedly denied the allegations and described them as fabricated.
"Contrary to the barefaced lies of Respondents 18 'ex-marines' and the disparaging remarks couched in patriotic sentiments and legalese statements of respondents Cayetano and Marcoleta, the unchanging truth is that as early as 2017, I, along with former Magdalo Partylist Representative Gary Alejano and the late Atty. Jude Sabio, have spearheaded the fight against the brutal War on Drugs Policy of former President Duterte to the forum of the International Criminal Court," Trillanes said in his complaint. (PNA)
