MALACAÑANG on Thursday downplayed the renewed challenge of Senator Antonio Trillanes on President Rodrigo Duterte to refute claims that he has more than P2 billion in his bank accounts.
Speaking to reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Trillanes’s allegation, which was also raised during the 2016 national election season, had already been "addressed."
Abella then called the latest tirade of Trillanes, a known critic of Duterte, as “part of the noise of political landscape.”
“It’s a rehash of items that have already been discussed three days before elections. Basically, he’s bringing up old issues,” Abella said.
“This [allegation against the President] is part of the noise of political landscape,” he added.
The presidential spokesperson said Trillanes could instead go to the proper authorities and submit the documents he had obtained against Duterte.
“Now, if he has truly something in mind, he could probably, he should go to proper authorities, in order to lay down something like this. It’s best to do this according to due process," he said.
Abella also debunked the claim of Trillanes that the President is planning to kill him.
He said the Senator is being "very dramatic" and stressed that Duterte does not even have plan to respond to his allegations.
"If necessary and within the right context, due process, [Duterte will respond] but not just to respond to some grandstander [like Trillanes]. He doesn’t really respond to those things," Abella said.
Earlier in the day, Trillanes called out Duterte anew to prove he is not a corrupt government official and that he does not have billions of money deposited in his bank accounts.
The Senator also reiterated that he would resign, if his allegation is proven wrong.
Trillanes revealed in April 2016 that Duterte had P211 million of undeclared funds in a joint account with his daughter, incumbent Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, at the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)–Julia Vargas Avenue branch in Pasig City.
He also claimed that Duterte had bank transactions amounting to P2.406 billion in 17 accounts in three banks from 2006 to 2015.
In a radio interview, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the BPI had already dismissed the documents obtained by the Senator as “fake.”
Panelo said Trillanes merely wanted to gain publicity, at the expense of Duterte.
“You know, when you lie in one, you lie in all. If you lied before, no one will believe you now. I am just amused by him (Trillanes). He is trying very hard,” Panelo said. (VoxPop Philippines)
