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MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday vowed to file cyber libel complaints against a lawyer, a former politician and several others for accusing him of receiving $2 million from fugitive lawmaker Zaldy Co supposedly to facilitate the investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the bloody drug war of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
In an interview over “Storycon” on One News, Trillanes described the accusation made by lawyer Levito Baligod as an attempt to discredit the ICC proceedings, particularly as the confirmation of charges hearing gets underway in The Hague.
“I vehemently deny that I received $2 million or any amount from Zaldy Co for the ICC investigation or for any other purpose. We did not receive any money. This move is meant to discredit the ICC in light of the ongoing confirmation of charges hearing,” Trillanes said.
He questioned the timing of the allegation, noting that the issue surfaced as the ICC began its confirmation of charges hearing.
“We cannot let this pass and we will not be distracted. We will run after them,” he said, as he revealed plans to file cyber libel charges against Baligod, former congressman Mike Defensor, broadcaster Jay Sonza, and 18 former soldiers who publicly aired the allegations during a press briefing in San Juan.
Baligod earlier alleged that ICC investigators benefited from supposed irregular government funds and claimed that certain Marines were ordered to convert P56 million allegedly intended for “foreigners” upon Co’s instructions. He also claimed that ICC investigators interviewed witnesses endorsed by Trillanes.
Asked whether ICC investigators conducted activities in the Philippines in 2023, Trillanes declined to give details, saying the matter is highly confidential.
“It involves lives, not only of the ICC investigators but also the witnesses they talked to. It is strictly prohibited to divulge that,” he said.
He warned that publicly identifying or exposing investigators and witnesses could constitute obstruction of justice under the Rome Statute.
“I think it’s Article 70. They will have to deal with that. The ICC can file the case. Many have already been imprisoned for obstruction of justice, even if the sentences are short,” Trillanes said.
He added that naming and photographing individuals linked to the investigation could endanger lives.
“The fact that they doxxed and released names puts the lives of these investigators in danger. They do not understand the implications,” he said.
P56 million per suitcase
At a briefing earlier yesterday led by Baligod, soldiers claimed they took part in the operation to provide funds for ICC investigators.
“Before December 2023, they (soldiers) were ordered to exchange pesos to dollars, two suitcases each containing P56 million so they exchanged the equivalent of $2 million and Zaldy Co’s executive assistants said they were preparing for the arrival of foreigners, and later, they realized that the foreigners mentioned were ICC investigators,” Baligod said.
Baligod added that the soldiers often delivered “suitcases and sometimes even paper bags of money” to those taking care of the ICC investigators.
“All their food, all the vehicles they used. All the hotels, all the condominium units were shouldered by Sonny Trillanes’ group, and Zaldy Co,” Baligod claimed. He said the ICC investigators first arrived in the country in December 2023.
“What they (ICC investigators) did was to interview witnesses sent to them by Sonny Trillanes, they did not interview any other witnesses but only people who were only sent by Sonny Trillanes. The funds were given to Sonny Trillanes to take care of these ICC investigators, that’s why all the vehicles used, all the hotel accommodations, were paid for by Zaldy Co and Sonny Trillanes,” Baligod added.
According to Baligod, based on the testimonies of the soldiers, all the interviews made by the ICC investigators were conducted in private places.
“As a lawyer, I am overwhelmed by this because my own conclusion, which the soldiers did not state in their affidavit, but as a lawyer, I see the serious problem of a third world country like ours, which is the only one being prosecuted by the ICC as they cannot enforce their order in rich countries,” he said.
He said that the ICC investigators did not conduct a “bonafide investigation” in the Philippines as they only interviewed people sent to them by Trillanes.
“They also entered the Bilibid Prison to interview the three convicted (police) in connection with the murder of Kian delos Santos,” Baligod said. Delos Santos was killed during an anti-drug operation in Caloocan City in 2017.
The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the murder conviction of police officers Arnel Oares (Oares), Jeremias Pereda (Pereda), and Jerwin Cruz for the death of Delos Santos.
“Some of the families of the victims were interviewed at the Bahay Kalinga of Fr. Flavie Villanueva, all the expenses were shouldered by Trillanes and Zaldy Co,” he added.
Villanueva was one of the most active clergymen who stood against the previous government’s war on drugs that left thousands of Filipinos including innocent children dead in a span of six years.
“Because the ICC investigators went only in December 2023, there is no doubt that the ICC manufactured the ICC existence of ICC jurisdiction in the Philippines because the residual jurisdiction of the ICC ended in March of 2019, or one year after the Philippines deposited its articles of withdrawal to the United Nations,” Baligod maintained.
He said the affidavits of the soldiers will be submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman.
“Before we give a copy, please allow us to submit it to the Office of the Ombudsman to see if the process at the Office of the Ombudsman continues because the current Ombudsman was also mentioned in the affidavit,” he said.
He said that he plans to submit copies of the affidavits to the ICC and to embassies of ICC-member countries.
