Bersamin Palace supports Trillanes after Duterte’s claim: Hallucination

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin | File photo: VOLTAIRE F. DOMINGO / Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has rejected former President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that he used former senator Antonio Trillanes IV to testify against the country’s former leader, calling the allegation a “hallucination.”

In an ambush interview on Monday, Secretary-General Lucas Bersamin was asked to comment on Duterte’s claim that Trillanes was a “Malacañang-sponsored” attack dog.

TO READ: Bank documents show Duterte’s drug war is ‘fake’ – Trillanes

“Hallucination… Mahirap nang mag komento sa mga ganyan. (It’s hard to comment on such things.),” Bersamin said in the interview.

Duterte during his phone conversation with Lawyer. Salvador Panelo, who was livestreamed via TikTok last November 15, said: “Itong si Trillanes, sponsored by talagang Malacañang ‘yan. Hindi gagalaw ‘yan ng ganoon. Walang pera ‘yan.”

Article continues after this ad

(Trillanes is sponsored by Malacañang. He doesn’t act like that; he has no money.)

“Nagtataka ako bakit ang Malacañang ginagawa… Wala naman kaming kaslanma sa kanila. Hindi naman ako nag-aatake kay Presidente. “I thank Trillanes and President Marcos,” Duterte added.

(I wonder why Malacañang did this… We did nothing wrong to them. I’m not attacking the President. But I know Trillanes worked for President Marcos.)

These allegations were related to a House Quad committee hearing last Nov. 13, in which Trillanes presented bank documents and “paper trails” showing that Duterte’s drug war was “fake” and that the alleged “drug syndicate” was merely a cover-up.

At the same hearing, Duterte grabbed his microphone and appeared to point it at Trillanes after the former senator encouraged him to sign a bank secrecy waiver.