LAKAN’s Blog

So the truth may be known, below is the reply of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to the accusations of columnist Mon Tulfo.

For those who are not aware yet, last July 07, Inquirer columnist Mr. Ramon Tulfo made some specific accusations against me. This was actually the third or fourth time that he has raised the same issues and I (or my lawyer) always respond to them point-by-point by writing to the Inquirer editors. So, for the nth time, here’s my point-by-point reponse to Mr. Tulfo:

1. On the issue that I have many luxury cars when I was still a junior officer. - Right after the Oakwood Incident in 2003, the NBI filed 8 cases against me at the Ombudsman purposely to smear my name. One of these is an ill-gotten wealth case relating to the allegations that I own several luxury vehicles. To date, all of these cases were dismissed precisely because they were filed primarily for propaganda purposes and, therefore, were not backed-up by evidence. The CIDG even submitted sloppily fabricated copies of vehicle OR/CRs supposedly bearing my name but all were registered in the year 1900! When the Ombudsman required them to submit the original copies, the CIDG failed to comply because they could be charged with falsification of public documents. If Mr. Tulfo was really after the truth, he should have verified with the Ombudsman. The truth of the matter is, my only vehicle when I was with the Navy was a second-hand ’96 Nissan Terrano, which I sold in 2007 to finance my campaign.

2. On the issue that I have a house in an exclusive village in Antipolo. - I do not own a house in an exclusive village in Antipolo, Rizal, as alleged by Mr. Tulfo. I never did. What Mr. Tulfo could be referring to is my parents-in-law’s house at Town and Country Village, a middle class subdivision in Antipolo which they have purchased way back in ‘89 (long before I even met my wife). In fact, I do not own a house at all when I was still with the Navy and even up to now. My family and I used to live at my wife’s quarters at PMA in Baguio City. When in Metro Manila, I stay either at my parent’s house in Caloocan or at my in-laws’. It was only last May that I acquired a 300 sqm lot in the same subdivision in Antipolo through the PAG-IBIG’s Home Financing II Program for which I will be paying for 25 years. Mr. Tulfo can verify these claims from the Register of Deeds of Rizal and from PAG-IBIG.

3. On the alleged tiff with a Dutchman and his Filipino wife. - The couple referred to, Anastacia Santarin and Adrian De Jager, have been locked in a dispute with a certain Estelita Pabalan over a vacant lot (there was no house) in Novaliches since 1999. Said property was leased as a parking lot for my mother’s rent-a-van business (duly registered at DTI with business permits) in early 2003. Sometime in March 2003, Santarin and De Jager forced their way into the premises, shoved the caretaker out, and refused to leave. When I was informed of the incident, I tried to talk to Ms. Santarin. I never met Mr. De Jager. Due to the couple’s refusal to leave, I reported the matter to the Barangay Chairman in the area. That was the extent of my participation in this matter.

A few days later, Pabalan and the caretaker reported the matter to the police. When they came to investigate, the policemen were attacked by De Jager with a knife. The policemen arrested De Jager and charged him in court with attempted homicide. He was incarcerated because of this (and his being an illegal alien) and not because of anything that I did. In fact, I had no involvement whatsoever in either the land dispute case or in De Jager’s criminal case. Court records will bear this out.

After the Oakwood incident, this couple tried to cut a deal with the government by offering themselves as witnesses against me in exchange for a favorable ruling in the land dispute. Fortunately, the police and/or prosecutors found their claim to be dubious and incredible. The couple later filed cases against me before the Ombudsman for coercion and grave threats but these cases were also dismissed for lack of merit. Again, the court records will bear this out.

I am one of those who supported the decriminalization of libel and was one of those who refused to sign the Right of Reply bill because I believe that a free and independent media is one of the hallmarks of a true democracy. But these Tulfo-type smear campaigns should not be allowed to go on, either. I can only wish that media organizations would also have a system (i.e. ethics bodies) to cleanse their own ranks of scalawags like Tulfo.