DUTERTE
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday said the camp of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte failed to meet his challenge to open his bank account at the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) even if he complied with the mayor’s demand to execute an affidavit naming his informant.
Trillanes went to BPI on Julia Vargas in Pasig City to present his affidavit in the hope Duterte will sign a waiver allowing the opening of the mayor’s bank account on Julia Vargas branch which saw transactions of over P1 billion there in a nine-year period.
“My accusation stands. (Duterte) is a billionaire,” Trillanes said at a news conference at the Magdalo headquarters in Quezon City where he went directly after the bank visit.
He said he complied with Durerte’s demand to execute an affidavit that named his informant as a Joseph de Mesa whom he said got hold of the mayor’s secret bank accounts through “a close relative who was working with an agency involved in investigating ill-gotten wealth of government officials.”
Trillanes said he asked permission from his informant in executing the affidavit and also “secured him.”
However, no waiver was given to the bank, Trillanes said. “We now know he is hiding something,” Trillanes said of Duterte, who sent his lawyer Salvador Panelo to the bank.
The legal counsel of Duterte yesterday requested the BPI branch on Julia Vargas Avenue to issue a certification that at no time has there been P211 million in the presidential hopeful’s bank account.
“(We requested the bank) to look into the records of (Duterte’s) bank account and issue a certification that at no time since the opening of the account has there been P211 million whether singly, collectively or cumulatively deposited to his bank,” Duterte’s lawyer Salvador Panelo told reporters after coming out of the bank shortly after noontime.
Panelo met Trillanes an hour earlier inside the BPI branch which was surrounded by policemen carrying shields and truncheons.
The face-off drew hundreds of supporters from both camps, each carrying their own placards. One camp shouted “Duterte!” The other shouted in return “Corrupt.”
The crowd filled the portion of Julia Vargas Avenue which in the entire confrontation has been open to motorists.
“The bank officials explained to Trillanes. We cannot just open the banks because we are following protocols,” Panelo said.
Panelo said the bank had asked for seven days to formally respond to the request.