Panelo slams Trillanes: Duterte’s dinner invitation to Robredo was sincere

A Malacañang official on Monday hit back at Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for saying that President Rodrigo Duterte's dinner invitation to Vice President Leni Robredo was "a trap to disarm" her.

"Trillanes is fond of hallucination. That invitation was a very sincere invitation and it is consistent with the President, who is a very generous person, sincere person," chief presidential legal counsel Secretary Salvador Panelo told reporters in Malacañang.

"The President invites people that he does not even know, na na-meet niya lang, for dinner or for lunch. It is not unthinkable for him to invite one who is the Vice President of the Philippines and a former member of the Cabinet," he added.

In an earlier radio interview, Panelo said that the invitation was not surprising.

"Trillanes is just making up a story, intriguing again," he said.

Duterte extended the invitation to Robredo during their meeting at the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) graduation ceremony in Silang, Cavite on Friday.

In a speech on Saturday, Duterte said that he believed Robredo's denial that she was part of the destabilization plots against him, even after he once said that the Vice President was "in a hurry" to take his place.

Panelo said that the President's comment was probably just Duterte's first impression.

"Maybe that was the initial impression. That maybe the initial impression. Well, maybe what he really meant is that any impeachment against him would benefit the Vice President, but it does not necessarily mean that she’s behind it," he said. — BM, GMA News