Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV questioned on Tuesday, June 29, the need to arm civilians to help law enforcers if only President Duterte fulfilled his promise to eradicate criminality within six months after he assumed office in mid-2016.

Trillanes, a staunch critic of Duterte, pointed to the President’s failure to meet his self-imposed deadline of three to six months to end criminality in the country.

In 2016, Duterte promised to suppress the drug abuse problem and corruption in government if elected president. But he later on admitted that he was wrong and that both or these ambitious goals could not be achieved.

“Sabi ni Duterte, bigyan ng armas ang mga civilian anti-crime groups. Teka muna, akala ko ba 3 to 6 months wala ng crime? (President Duterte said, give arms to civilian anti-crime groups. But wait, I thought there will be no crime in 3 to 6 months?” he said in a Twitter post with hashtag #dutertepalpak.

“Palpak” is a Filipino word that describes the person who failed, and the hashtag #dutertepalpak has trended on Twitter after the public criticized Duterte for his administration’s COVID-19 response.

Last week, Duterte floated the idea of arming anti-crime volunteers during the launch of the Global Coalition of Lingkod Bayan Advocacy Support Groups and Force Multipliers. This group of civilians has partnered with the police in its campaign against criminality.

READ: 'The criminal must die, you must live': Duterte backs arming of anti-crime volunteers

The former senator, who is seeking another national post next year, has been a vocal critic of Duterte and his controversial policies.

As one of the nominees for vice president or president of the opposition coalition 1Sambayan, Trillanes said his goal is to jail Duterte and his allies for surrendering the Philippines to China and for the bloody anti-drugs campaign.