Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV holds a press conference at Club Filipino in San Juan City on Friday, October 2, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — Vice President Sara Duterte’s camp is mulling the filing of charges against former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, her spokesperson said on Monday, days after the soldier-turned-lawmaker claimed that the Duterte family benefitted from multi-million remittances from China and a local drug lord.
After the prosecution panel dropped Trillanes as one of their impeachment trial witnesses last week, the former lawmaker alleged in a press briefing that China funneled millions of pesos to Duterte’s foundation and one of the companies of her husband Manases Carpio.
Trillanes also accused Duterte, her father and her siblings of receiving funds from businessman Sammy Uy, who the former senator described as a known drug lord in Davao.
“‘Yung mga allegation niya kasi pang parlor, hindi pang korte kasi sa korte may sinusundan tayong rules of admissibility, kailangan may personal knowledge, kailangan credible ‘yung evidence, and clearly wala siya (Trillanes) noon,” Atty. Paolo Panelo told reporters on the sidelines of the Vice President’s impeachment trial.
Trillanes accuses Sara Duterte, Mans Carpio of receiving millions in funding from China
“So there is basis, we have the evidence, we have the legal basis to do so, to file criminal charges against him, but again, as I said in my statement, we've already seen how this government... protects those who peddle lies against the Vice President,” he said.
But Panelo noted that Duterte's perjury complaints against Ramil Madriaga — who claimed to have delivered large sums of cash on her order — did not prosper despite the evidence that the Vice President’s camp presented.
‘FUTILE TO FILE CHARGES’
When asked if the Duterte camp felt that it was “futile” to file charges against Trillanes, Panelo said: “Under this administration, yes.”
“That's been demonstrated to us clearly with respect to the Ramil Madriaga complaint. So that is our position, but it's not out of the question. It's still an option,” he said.
The spokesperson said that he would “discuss” legal remedies and options with the Vice President to see “if she wants to pursue that versus Sen. Trillanes or Gracioso or whoever else.”
Over the weekend, Duterte’s camp denied Trillanes’ claims and said the former senator had been “peddling the same exhausted lies" against the her family since 2016.