DAVAO City–Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, frontrunner in the presidential race, has authorized his lawyer to go to the Bank of Philippine Islands branch on Julio Vargas Avenue in Pasig City today to open his bank records amid allegations by Sen. Antonio Trillanes that he has P211 million in deposits that he did not declare in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
Trillanes made the allegations in April 27 but two days later alleged Duterte had a total of P2.04 billion of “unexplained wealth.”
Duterte denied Trillanes’s allegations. In a press conference in Pasay City on Friday he said, “At least I can tell you na hindi talaga P200 million.”
Trillanes challenged Duterte to meet him at 11 am today at the BPI branch, and sign a waiver on his right to bank secrecy.
On Friday, Duterte accepted Trillanes’s dare but said he would send a lawyer in his stead because he has a rally in Zamboanga.
Duterte’s media team said Duterte imposed a condition for Trillanes to sign an affidavit and file a case against him.
When Trillanes’s allegations about the P211-million bank deposit went public on Wednesday, Duterte told the Makati Business Club not to believe Trillanes as his allegations are “pure garbage.”
“What I have is P200,000,” he said.
Duterte’s spokesperson Peter Lavina posted on his Facebook wall that “the Trillanes bombshell of a bank account with P211 million does not exist. Mayor Duterte admits to BPI accounts but with only P50K and P17K in it.”
Lawyer Paola Alvarez, spokesperson of Duterte’s party, PDP-Laban, said Trillanes’s allegations were “getting ridiculous by the day,” and referred to him as “inventor of the week.”
“This is getting ridiculous by the day. Two days ago, Sen. Trillanes accused Mayor Duterte of having an undeclared P211 million bank account. Today, he said the mayor’s accounts had P2.4 billion worth of transactions. What’s next, Mayor Duterte is behind the $81 million Bangladeshi bank heist? This is already the height of absurdity,” Alvarez said. (mindanews)
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