Trillanes has low IQ, Duterte says

MANILA (UPDATE) - President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday hit back at the tirades of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, saying the lawmaker has low intelligence quotient.

Speaking to reporters at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, where he led rites to commemorate National Heroes Day, Duterte said he wonders why Trillanes, a former Navy officer, survived the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), “given his character, his mouth and his low IQ.”

Responding to Duterte’s statement, Trillanes dared Duterte to an IQ test.

“Kahit plus 10 pa siya, ‘pag mas mataas score niya sa ‘kin, magre-resign ako sa pagka-Senador. Siya nga itong wala nang maisip na solusyon sa mga problema ng bayan kasi aminado siyang mahina ang kokote niya,” Trillanes said on Twitter.

(Even if we add 10 to his score (in the IQ test), if his scores are higher than mine, I will step down as Senator. He's the one who could not come up with solutions to the country’s problems because he is admittedly a dumb person.)

Trillanes on Friday said Duterte should just go to the hospital if he is indeed ill, otherwise, the President should just continue working.

“Ang daming problema ng bayan na ikaw rin naman ang gumawa, tapos patulog-tulog ka lang diyan sa Davao,” Trillanes said in a post on Twitter.

(The country has so many problems which are your own doing, yet you are just sleeping there in Davao.)

“Gumawa ka ng solusyon imbes na magpaawa (Find solutions instead of making yourself look pitiable). Truly, you are the laziest, craziest, and the worst president this country ever had.”

Duterte issued his retort to Trillanes when asked to react to opposition politicians' criticism of his appointment of Teresita De Castro as Chief Justice.

Trillanes' close ally, Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, said De Castro's appointment may have been a reward from the President.

• Duterte defends De Castro's appointment as chief justice

"I have yet to hear those guys state something without malice. They always say the worst. People judge best when they condemn. And they have nothing to show for their time there except to blabber their mouth," the President said.

De Castro was one of the toughest critics of ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and was among those who voted to remove the latter through invalidating her appointment.