Philippine president son’s ‘secret tattoo’ fuels suspicion over US$125 million Chinese drug haul
Senator Antonio Trillanes said he had intelligence information that Paolo Duterte was a member of a criminal syndicate, citing as proof a large tattoo with secret digits on his back
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s son on Thursday told a Senate inquiry he had no links to a seized shipment of US$125 million worth of narcotics from China, dismissing as “baseless” the allegations of his involvement in the drugs trade.
Opponents of the president, who has instigated a fierce crackdown on a trade he says is destroying the country, say they believe his son Paolo may have helped ease the entry of the crystal methamphetamine shipment at the port in Manila, the capital.
The allegations emerged last month when a customs broker told the Senate panel that he had heard the names of Duterte’s son and son-in-law mentioned while seeking to expedite the shipment.
The broker later issued a statement clearing the two men of involvement.
On Tuesday Duterte said he had told Paolo to attend the senate investigation if he had nothing to hide, besides advising him not to answer questions and invoke his right to keep silent.
“I cannot answer allegations based on hearsay,” Paolo Duterte, the vice mayor of the southern city of Davao, told the Senate.