Malacañang on Monday clarified that President Rodrigo Duterte only meant to “destroy” the accusations hurled by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV against him and his family, and not the legislator himself.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the President only wanted to stop the senator’s “sheer reckless accusations” when he was asked to clarify Duterte’s “destroy” remark last week on Trillanes’ latest attacks.

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“You know the President is very — He’s a very firm forceful speaker. And he simply means to say that he wants to put a stop to these apparently wanton comments,” he said.

Abella noted that the President wanted to make sure that “things do not become sheer reckless accusations.”

Abella said Duterte will come up with a “substantial’ evidence against Trillanes.

“He may come up with substantial evidence that will effectively put a stop to these things,” he said.

“Well, simply that whatever it is that he will want a stop to this apparently wanton accusations that are being recklessly cast around,” he added.

Duterte on Saturday hit back at Trillanes, accusing the senator of hiding money in various banks overseas. Trillanes, however, quickly denied the allegation.

“He’s bent on destroying me, so I destroy him or he will destroy me. Ganun lang ‘yan,” Duterte declared.

Trillanes’ latest accusation came last Thursday at the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the P6.4-billion-worth shabu shipment from China.

He claimed that Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte is a member of a Chinese drug syndicate, and that the younger Duterte and Manases Carpio, a son-in-law of the President, are part of the so-called “Davao Group”, which is involved in smuggling. He also said that the two had substantial cash deposits in a bank.

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During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trillanes accused Duterte of hiding at least P227 million in an account deposited in a bank in Pasig City. kga

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