Trillanes downplays Duterte’s order for PhilHealth officials to quit

June 11, 2019

Outgoing Senator Trillanes said the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) board members asked by President Rodrigo Duterte to resign are not part of his “syndicate”.

“Because they are not part of his group, but when it’s his group- what happened to the customs official who is responsible in the entry of illegal drugs... he promoted him. So what is political will there?,” Trillanes said in a press conference.

“As long as you are part of his syndicate, you are protected. If not, you will be removed so that he can say that he has anti-corruption (drive),” he added.

He said asking the officials from PhilHealth to resign doesn’t show Duterte’s anti-corruption drive.

“There is no such thing as anti-corruption drive. There are people who are getting caught and there are people who are not. Those who are not caught can continue doing (corruption), those who are caught (will be remove,” said Trillanes.

Trillanes accused the Duterte appointees of being corrupt.

“No one is facing cases… In fact they are being promoted,” he said.

“If you only have an idea of what I know about this administration, you can say that those (issues) being reported are only loose change. Corruption is too much. They are really hungry (for money,” he added.

He even asked the public if they did not learn from the promise of Duterte to end the problem in illegal drugs within three to six months.

“Then he will now promise five minutes (travel period along Edsa)? After that, a different story again. Juan Dela Cruz will be fooled again, he will just curse the Church and God then we are distracted again,” said Trillanes.

Trillanes called Duterte a “pathological liar”. “He was used to fooling people there in Davao,” he said.

On Duterte’s statement that he never ordered killing a specific person, Trillanes said he is just shifting as the International Criminal Court and other Human Rights lawyers are coming for him.

“We have it on record. We submit it to the ICC that his order is shoot to kill. He doesn’t give a care to human rights. You cannot take that back,” he said.

Trillanes said it’s not enough that he did not do something about the thousands reported dead on his war against illegal drugs but what he did to prevent it from happening.

Since assuming presidency and even during the 2016 president elections, Trillanes is one of the staunch critics of Duterte. Ella Dionisio/DMS