Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV (Facebook)

Two members of the House "Young Guns" bloc came to the defense of former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, whom they described as a true-blue “fiscalizer".

Deputy Majority Leader La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V and Assistant Majority Leader Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun had this say Monday, Nov. 18 about the firebrand Trillanes, whom former president Rodrigo Duterte called an "attack dog" of Malacañang.

Duterte and Trillanes served as resource persons of a 13-hour House quad-committee (quad-comm) hearing on the former's bloody drug war last Nov. 13.

During the hearing, Trillanes brought up his old allegation that Duterte had received P2.4 billion in "drug proceeds" in the past. This, despite the latter’s hardline stance against illegal drugs when he was president. 

So affected was Duterte that he lost his cool and threatened to hit Trillanes during the hearing. 

"First time ko ma-meet si former senator Trillanes nung hearing po sa quad-comm and consistent naman po yata ang reputation niya na he has been a fiscalizer ever since,” Ortega said in response to Duterte’s remarks.

(The quad-comm hearing was the first time that I met former senator Trillanes and I think he has been consistent with his reputation that he has been a fiscalizer ever since.)

Ortega noted that Trillanes has a longstanding reputation for being critical of public figures, dating back to his tenure in the Senate. “But I doubt if he's an attack dog or … an attack dog of Malacañang," he said.

The La Union lawmaker also noted the longstanding "rivalry" between Duterte and Trillanes, dating back to 2016 when the former was still a presidential candidate.

“Alam naman natin na ika nga may rivalry sila ng dating pangulo. So siguro ito part ano ito, anong part na ba ito? Part three na siguro nung rivalry nila,” he said.

(We know that he has a rivalry, so to speak, with the former president. So maybe this is, what part is this? Maybe this is part three of their rivalry.)

Khonghun echoed Ortega's appreciation on the matter.

“Alam naman natin iyung issue ni former senator Trillanes since 2016 pa, bago pa naging president si former president Duterte, sinasabi na ni senator Trillanes,” he said.

(We know that former senator Trillanes' issue dates back to 2016, senator Trillanes has been saying this even before Duterte was president.)

“I think valid lang na kailangan din niyang sagutin iyung mga issue sa kanya lalung-lalo na iyung mga pinaparatang, sinasabi ni senrtor Trillanes sa kanya," Khonghun added, referring to Duterte. 

(I think it's only valid for him to address the issues about him, especially the ones hurled at him by Trillanes.)