Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV has accused the Dutertes of being more capable of bribing International Criminal Court investigators than him, as he continued to maintain his innocence on allegations that he acted as an intermediary for the administration to influence the drug war probe that led to the arrest of the family’s patriarch, former president Rodrigo Duterte. 

“They are Europeans. You really can't bribe them. That goes to the next point: if I could bribe them, don't you think the Dutertes can’t do it?” Trillanes said in an interview on broadcast journalist Carmina Constantino’s podcast uploaded on Saturday.

“They can offer so much more than I can offer. So this is only a diversion, a distraction,” he added. 

Trillanes pointed to the Dutertes as the instigators of the allegations, allegedly aimed at “tainting” the ICC’s credibility to conduct an independent and impartial probe into the drug war killings, which he added, could be weaponized by the ex-president’s lawyer to compromise the proceedings in The Hague.

Trillanes’s remark follows renewed allegations of 18 alleged former aides of ex-Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co during a press conference last week, accusing him of receiving at least $2 million from their erstwhile boss to bribe ICC investigators. 

The money allegedly came from the administration and was facilitated by Co in his capacity as the former chair of the House committee on appropriations. 

Trillanes questioned the logic behind the group’s allegations, saying the Duterte camp was in a stronger position to exert influence on the ICC probers given their stakes in the matter. Moreover, he argued that the allegations don’t add up because ICC officials would rather receive the supposed money in Euros than dollars.

He criticized the accusations as “very malicious,” adding that the chances of ICC probers being bribed are slim because they are “very professional.” 

The bodyguards have repeatedly alleged that they delivered tons of suitcases stuffed with cash to top government officials allied with the administration, including opposition figures like Trillanes, and Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima, and Makabayan bloc lawmakers.

They also claimed that they escorted ICC investigators during their alleged visit to the Philippines in December 2023 and delivered two suitcases containing $1 million each to Trillanes IV to supposedly fund the ICC's drug war probe. 

Shortly after the group detailed the allegations in their February affidavit, ICC prosecutors were quick to deny that their probe into Duterte’s drug war was funded by the Philippines, saying that all of their investigation-related activities have a court-approved budget.

Critics also questioned the group’s allegations due to their timing, coinciding closely with the confirmation of charges hearing against Duterte.

In disputing the allegations, Trillanes rejected them as an “outright lie,” citing alleged inconsistencies in the group’s statements across its four public appearances. 

“Their statement keeps changing every single time,” he argued. 

He cited, for example, the conflicting statements by the bodyguards, who initially alleged that they delivered the money to Trillanes’ residence, and eventually changed it, and claimed that they brought it to the headquarters of Samahang Magdalo—a political organization established by the former senator and retired Navy officers—in Quezon City.

“That alone shutters everything…They can’t get the story straight,” he averred.

Trillanes categorically denied receiving a cent from the administration, saying that he put Duterte behind bars in The Hague without any help from the government.

Trillanes played a crucial role in Duterte’s crimes against humanity case in the ICC by helping gather evidence and push for the investigation into the alleged extrajudicial killings. 

He, along with other lawmakers critical of the Duterte administration, filed the complaint with the ICC in June 2017, which later paved the way for a full-blown probe and subsequent arrest of Duterte in March last year.