PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday frowned on Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s challenge to sign a waiver that will allow a public scrutiny of his bank accounts purportedly containing billions of pesos.
Speaking to reporters in Taguig City, the President said he would not feed Trillanes evidence that might be used against him.
“If Trillanes wants to find something of fault with me, tell him, ‘Go somewhere else and fly a kite,’” Duterte said on the sidelines of his visit to the wake of a slain soldier at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
“In the same manner that if he wants to get evidence, do not get it from my mouth. You must be stupid. Even if it is true or false, why would I give you the pleasure? See for yourself. Don’t involve me in that,” he added.
Duterte’s statement came following the senator’s challenge on him to sign bank secrecy waivers that will permit the Office of the Ombudsman and the Anti-Money Laundering Council to scrutinize his alleged ill-gotten wealth hidden in several bank accounts.
On September 11, Trillanes signed waivers for 12 bank accounts being linked to him and dared Duterte to do the same to prove his innocence and debunk his allegations against the President and his family.
Trillanes made the call on Duterte, two days after the latter accused him of owning clandestine bank accounts in Hong Kong, Australia, and America.
The President, in a speech delivered on September 9, announced that he is planning to divulge “in a few days” the senator’s offshore joint bank accounts with unnamed Chinese national.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trillanes alleged that Duterte and his family amassed money from illegal activities and funneled it into several bank accounts.
The senator claimed that Duterte had bank transactions amounting to P2.4 billion from 2006 to 2015.
He also revealed that the President failed to declare in his 2014 Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth at least P211 million allegedly deposited in the Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI)-Julia Vargas branch.
Duterte, however, insisted that he already signed a waiver to disprove the senator’s allegations against him.
“I already signed a waiver. I said he’s stupid. You showed an account, I waived my bank secrecy,” the President said.
“I don’t have that. I already signed a waiver. You accused me of having billions of pesos [and deposited] P211 million. If that’s true, I will withdraw my presidency,” he added.
The Chief Executive was referring to the special power of attorney he granted to Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Saldavor Panelo in May 2016, allowing the latter to BPI to release documents that would dismiss the supposed hidden wealth.
The special power of attorney sought BPI’s certificates for Duterte’s current balance with notes that “at no time since the opening of the aforesaid bank account was there a deposit either singly or collectively P211 million.”
‘Trillanes to face charges’
Amid the spat between the officials, Duterte said Trillanes might face appropriate cases over his bank accounts abroad.
The President said “there is much things to do” to expose the senator’s irregularities but stressed that he was keen to release the senator’s bank accounts in the coming days.
He said he has enough ground as the information about Trillanes’ offshore bank accounts came from a “foreign government.”
“We are building a case. It’s kind of difficult [because of] Bank Secrecy Law,” he said.
Duterte turned the tables on Trillanes, saying the latter “has perfected the art of crime.”
“He (Trillanes) is the one lying. He’s smart. He has perfected the art of crime,” he said.
“Trillanes thinks that really, people are ignorant. His joint accounts, he partnered with a Chinese. So even if he signs a waiver, if the co-signer does not, nothing will happen. And the bank would never, never name who is the partner,” he added.
Apart from Trillanes bank records, Duterte also accused the senator of being involved in the misuse of Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) implemented under the leadership of his predecessor, former president Benigno Aquino III. (VoxPop Philippines)
