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Tensions briefly rose during the congressional probe into the past administration’s drug war when former President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to slap, and eventually hit, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV with a microphone.
During a break in the House of Representatives quad committee hearing on Wednesday, Duterte got a hold of his microphone and appeared to aim it against Trillanes after the former senator dared him to sign a bank secrecy waiver.
The bank secrecy waiver came about after Trillanes claimed again that the bank accounts of the former president and his relatives were supposedly connected to drug lords.
“Will the former president be okay that if we draft the waiver now, that it be signed today instead of tomorrow? Will you be fine with that, Mr. President?” Deputy Speaker David Suarez said, asking Duterte.
“Ano’ng kapalit sir?” Duterte asked. “Sampalin ko siya sa publiko? Hindi, ngayon na, sasampalin ko sa publiko.”
(In exchange for what, sir? Can I slap him in public? No, I’ll do it now, I will slap him in public.)
“Hindi, wala naman, wala pong ganunan (No sir, we don’t do that here),” Suarez replied.
After these statements from Duterte, Suarez moved to suspend the hearing to calm down the resource persons. However, Duterte muttered things to Trillanes before grabbing his microphone and aiming it at the former senator.
Duterte was stopped by his lawyer, former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairperson Martin Delgra III, and other lawyers — former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo and former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea — also stood up.
