Former presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo claimed that the recent charges filed by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV against former president Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Bong Go were intended to give him exposure in preparation for his candidacy in the 2025 elections.

Panelo said this after Trillanes IV filed on Friday, July 5, plunder and graft complaints at the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Duterte Go in connection with P6.6 billion worth of infrastructure projects, including companies allegedly owned by Go's relatives, under the previous administration.

In a statement, Panelo said Trillanes has a "nasty habit" of hurling accusations against Duterte and Go.

"Once again, the discredited rebel renegade is on his publicity stunt of spreading malicious and false accusations intended to get media mileage for his 2025 election bid for either a local or national position," he said.

"As always the accuser will be undressed naked with his lies," he added.

Panelo, who also served as Duterte's chief legal counsel, recalled how Trillanes accused then-presidential candidate Duterte of having a bank deposit amounting to over P100 million in the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) when he had only P16,000 under his account.

He likewise pointed out that in 2017, lawyer Jude Sabio filed a complaint in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Duterte for crime against humanity in connection with the drug war, only to withdraw it in 2020 and said that the complaint was upon Trillanes' initiative.

In 2018, Panelo said Trillanes hurled the same plunder charge accusation against the two politicians.

"He is resurrecting the recycled baseless charges against the two," he said.

Panelo reminded the public that Duterte and Go have distanced themselves from their friends and relatives who may have transactions in the government during the Duterte administration.

"The former President fired government officials tainted with corruption including members of his Cabinet," he said.

"The two have never used their positions and influence to help friends, relatives, and allies to get government contracts. They abhor such practice and anathema to their character," he added.

Despite this, Panelo said former president Duterte and Senator Go welcome any judicial inquiry on their actuations as government officials.

"They have served with integrity, dedication, and always protective of the people’s interest during their stint in the previous dispensation," he said.