Duterte vows to 'hang' self if links to drug trade proven

Content Warning: This news article contains mention of self-harm and suicide. Reader discretion is advised.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte vowed to “hang” himself if the allegations of former senator Antonio Trillanes about his family obtaining an estimated P2.4 billion of funds from illegal drug trade proven true. 

Trillanes, a fierce critic of the Dutertes, appeared at the 11th inquiry of the House quad committee on Wednesday armed with a detailed presentation of the supposed bank accounts of Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. 

“Your honor, if there is an iota of truth [about Trillanes’ presentation], I will hang myself in front of you,” Duterte said. “I will [even] ask my daughter to resign and everybody in the family. That is my guarantee, and I will hang myself.”

The documents showed that the purported funds, which Trillanes claimed a “direct bribes” from drug lords, were deposited in the accounts of the father and daughter from 2006 to 2015, where the two were still in the local post in Davao City. 

Trillanes referenced the same documents when he filed a plunder case against the senior Duterte in 2016, which he said led to the dismissal of then-overall deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang, who looked into the case.

"We will know what the actual total when they open the accounts,” Trillanes said.

“The only mistake of Mr. Duterte when he was hiding his money, he made a joint account with Vice President Sara Duterte. We know that impeachment is exempted from the bank secrecy law, so all of that will come out,” the erstwhile senator added.

An enraged Duterte countered that he would authorize the quad comm to summon all of his bank accounts to dispute Trillanes’ allegations.

“I will sign the document tomorrow and hand it over, since the lawyer still has to prepare it. But as I’ve said, if there’s even an iota of truth to what’s being said, I will hang myself in your presence. I will invite you all to witness it,” Duterte stressed.

In response, Deputy Speaker David Suarez asked Duterte whether he would be willing to sign the bank secrecy waiver later in the hearing.

“In exchange for what? I will slap him [Trillanes] in public?” Duterte asked. 

Duterte then blew a fuse at Trillanes and even poised to throw him a microphone, prompting a slight commotion during the probe. 

Earlier in the hearing, Duterte also declared that he would not intervene in the case filed by Trillanes against his son, Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte, and his son-in-law Mans Carpio, the VP’s husband, if the prosecution would found criminally liable in the alleged smuggling of 600 kilos of shabu in Valenzuela City in 2017.

“If they are really involved in drug smuggling, they should be prosecuted in court. And if convicted, they should serve sentence in jail. I won't stop that if it's true,” 

Trillanes previously said that the charges stemmed from the 2017 investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee into the issue.

He alleged that the duo was the “masterminds” behind the P6.4 billion shabu shipment that was “allowed to slip through Customs in connivance with its Commissioner Nic Faeldon and former Presidential Adviser Allen Capuyan, who was known as the “Big Brother.”