MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter has set two conditions for Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV before the first family issues bank waivers: the lawmaker must prove that the bank records he has against the Dutertes are authentic and reveal the source of the documents.
“Sinabi ko na kung gusto niya ng waiver, ibibigay namin ang waiver sa kanya, sabihin niya muna kung totoo ‘yong listahan niya at kung totoo ang listahan niya sino ang source ng listahan niya,” said Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio in a recent interview.
[I already said that if he wants the waiver, we will give the waiver to him but he has to say first whether his list is true and if it is, he has to tell us who is the source of the list.]
But the mayor doubted the senator could fulfill the conditions because “he is lying.”
“Magsabi ka kung nagsisinungaling ka o hindi. Sinungaling kasi,” she said.
Last month, Trillanes signed waivers for the bank accounts being linked to him and allowed government investigators to look into them. He then dared the President to do the same.
Days before last year’s national elections, Trillanes, then a vice presidential bet, filed a plunder complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against then presidential candidate Duterte, alleging that he had P2.4 billion worth of bank transactions.
Trillanes claimed Duterte could have amassed his alleged hidden wealth from hiring thousands of Davao City ghost employees.
He cited in his complaint the Commission on Audit’s 2015 report that there were 11,246 contractual workers in 2014, who were paid a total of P708 million and assigned to the office of the Davao mayor. The COA raised concern over the absence of documents proving that the said workers were actually performing their jobs.
After Duterte ordered the Anti-Money Laundering Council last February to produce records showing his net worth, Trillanes asked the AMLC to release the same but it rejected the senator’s request.
In its March 29, 2017 letter to Trillanes, the AMLC said Duterte’s verbal order was not enough for the council to release the President’s financial records.
“Without an authorized bank inquiry, the AMLC is in no position to have in its possession the bank records of, or to disclose, the bank transactions of anyone,” said AMLC officer-in-charge Mel Georgie Racela.
