Duterte camp: No Trillanes affidavit, no disclosure

Dharel Placido, ABS-CBN News

Posted at 01 May 2016 01:36 AM

'What if the money in Duterte's accounts are donations for calamity fund?' says spokesperson

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte Fernando G. Sepe, Jr., ABS-CBN News

MANILA – A day after presidential race front runner Rodrigo Duterte said he had agreed to disclose his bank accounts in Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) Julia Vargas branch, his camp on Saturday said Senator Antonio Trillanes IV must first execute an affidavit and name his sources before this can happen.

PDP-Laban spokesperson Paola Alvarez said it is unfair for Duterte to divulge the details of his bank accounts if Trillanes won't reveal the sources of his information which alleges that the Davao City mayor has millions of pesos in hidden wealth.

''He has to be explain to BPI and even to the people how he got this information, because if he cannot explain it, then it is false,'' Alvarez told dzMM.

''What we want to know is that if you really did legally procure [it from] that source. Ibang bagay naman ang meron siyang bank account pero may transactions. Hindi naman porket may transactions ibig sabihin may ginawa ng criminal acts eh."

Trillanes questioned Alvarez why the mayor's camp suddenly wants him to execute an affidavit and name his sources, noting the mayor and his running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, released a ''general waiver'' for all of their bank accounts back in March without setting conditions.

READ: #ThrowbackThursday: Cayetano's waiver challenge

''Bakit suddenly may affidavit? Nung March nagsabi si Mayor Duterte, hinahamon niya lahat, pumirma daw sila ng waiver ni Senator Cayetano. Walang conditions iyun. Willing silang mag-open. Pero ngayong may akusasyon na, suddenly gusto nilang may affidavit,'' Trillanes said.

DUTERTE AGREES TO BARE BPI ACCOUNTS

Duterte on Friday agreed to open his bank account records in BPI Julia Vargas branch on Monday, May 2. Lawyer Salvador Panelo has been authorized to open the accounts on behalf of Duterte.

Duterte will not be present, according to Alvarez, since he will be busy campaigning that day.

Trillanes said, if Duterte opens his bank accounts for scrutiny, he should not only divulge the current balance but the transaction history and year-end balances as well.

Trillanes accused Duterte of misleading the public by projecting an image that he is a government official leading a simple life. He also blasted the tough-talking mayor for his flip-flopping statements regarding the matter.

READ: 'Puro kambyo': Trillanes hits Duterte's contradicting statements

He reiterated his challenge to Duterte to prove him wrong and if he is able to, he would step down as senator.

''Panlilinlang ito sa mga kababayan kasi maraming sumakay sa Duterte wave na ito dahil akala nila simpleng tao, hindi corrupt. Pero yun pala, nung hinarap mo na ng ganito ang accusation, suddenly hindi na honest,'' he said.

''Sinasabi nila na tsismis lang ang basis ko kung ano man, kaya nga sabi ko, prove me wrong, pirmahan natin ang waiver, tingnan natin ang transaction history. Kung mali ako, ora mismo magre-resign ako as a senator."

'WHY NO AMLC ALERT?'

Alvarez said, assuming that the alleged amounts in Duterte's accounts were true and deemed by BPI as suspicious, the bank should have alerted the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

''Iyung sinasabi niyang transactions, if these were true, and these were illegal transactions, why didn't the BPI report to the AMLC that there were these huge amounts of money that came in in one day?" Alvarez said.

''There must be a reason why it was allowed because simply it was valid. What if there was a donation for a calamity fund?"

Trillanes responded to Alvarez by saying that the camp of Duterte is now trying to build an alibi that would explain the supposed huge sums in the bank accounts in question.

''They are now trying to justify kung bakit may pumasok na pera, may mga pauna na. Kumbaga sa akin, ayusin muna nila ang kwento nila kasi nagkakabuhol-buhol,'' he said.

''Ngayon meron ng justification. What if may papasok raw na pera for calamity fund. Teka muna, nagbibigay na kaagad kayo ng alibi. Relax muna kayo. Ako ipu-prove ko muna na 2.4 billion pesos ang pumasok. Kung ako sa inyo, tanungin niyo ang boss niyo, paaminin niyo kasi magkaka-buhol buhol kayo."

'TRILLANES NO PERSON OF AUTHORITY'

During the interview, things got tense between Trillanes and Alvarez when the latter wrongly claimed that BPI itself questioned the authenticity of the transaction details in the alleged Duterte bank accounts which was first published by the Inquirer.

''Yung BPI, hindi nila sinasabi na hindi authentic ang mga documents. Ang sinasabi nila, hindi galing sa kanila ang listahan ng report na nilabas sa Inquirer. Those are two different things. Alam mo, abugado ka nagsisinungaling ka. Bawal yan,'' Trillanes said.

At one point during the interview, Alvarez described Trillanes as ''being offensive'' and that she was ''ashamed'' of the senator's behavior.

Alvarez said Trillanes is not a ''person of authority'' and not doing his job as a senator. She said Trillanes is only ''persecuting'' Duterte.

''Wala po tayong kaso. This is not a prosecution. You are not under a Senate hearing. This is simply persecution. Why are you asking us for these alibis and other things when you are not even an Ombudsman, a judge or a justice? You are a senator and you are not doing your job,'' Alvarez said.

To this, Trillanes responded: ''I will put you in your place ha. Huwag mo kong gaganyanin. I have earned my right to speak before the nation. I have led several investigations. So ganito yan, itong sinasabi natin dito, simple lang, kung mali nga ang aking alegasyon, eh di prove me wrong magre-resign ako sa Senado."

P2.4-B BANK TRANSACTIONS

With less than 2 weeks before the May 9 presidential election, Trillanes dropped a bombshell by claiming that Duterte's BPI Julia Vargas accounts contained P227.41 million (not P211 million as earlier reported) in 2014. This was not declared in Duterte's Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) that year.

Duterte only receives a monthly pay of P78,946 as mayor, under the government salary standardization law. He reported only a net worth of some P21.971 million in his 2014 SALN.

Duterte initially denied the existence of his accounts at BPI Julia Vargas, but admitted last Thursday that he had two accounts in the bank branch.

The PDP-Laban bet, however, insisted that the 2 accounts do not contain over P200 million, but now only has around P50,000 and P17,000.

TIMELINE: Duterte camp denies, admits BPI account

A Philippine Daily Inquirer report, citing documents provided by Trillanes, on Friday said Duterte's accounts at BPI Julia Vargas alone allegedly received P1.74 billion in total deposits and transfers. The joint accounts at BPI Edsa Greenhills also received P667 million while the BDO-Unibank account had P534 million.

READ: Duterte accounts had P2.4-B in transactions: Trillanes

Trillanes said deposits and transfers in the three banks totaled 71, of which 48 were credit memos and 23 were inter-bank transfers.

Among these transactions were seven deposits amounting to P193 million, which were credited to Duterte's BPI Julia Vargas account on March 28, 2014, his 69th birthday.

Asked about Trillanes' allegations that his accounts had P2.4 billion in transactions, Duterte was evasive but gave more detail on his bank accounts at the BPI Julia Vargas branch.

He told reporters: "There is money there in that account, a little lesser than P200 million."

Duterte was also cryptic when asked about seven transactions amounting to P193.71 million which supposedly entered his accounts on March 28, 2014, his 69th birthday.

"Ibig sabihin eh di mayroon akong maraming kaibigan na mayaman... Wala na, ginastos ko na. Nag-happy-happy ako," he said.