Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte also has several undeclared property assets aside from his unreported millions of pesos in bank deposits, Sen. Antonio Trillanes told the public yesterday.
In an interview with reporters covering the Senate, Trillanes claimed that some of Duterte’s assets are in the country, which the mayor failed to declare in his Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth, or SALN.
Trillanes also told GMA news programme 24 Oras that the Duterte family owns 41 property assets, including 34 in Davao City, one in San Juan City (Metro Manila), two in Dipolog City, one each in Cagayan de Oro City, Paranaque City (also in Metro Manila), Quezon City and Davao del Norte.
The senator said he was verifying some of the other information that has come up to make sure all the allegedly hidden riches really belong to Duterte before releasing to the public the outcome of his research on the matter.
He estimated Duterte’s joint accounts with daughter Sara at about P2.4bn under three bank accounts.
Trillanes earlier exposed Duterte’s alleged P211mn undeclared bank account with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Julia Vargas Branch in Pasig City (Metro Manila) but the mayor denied the allegation, calling it “garbage.”
The senator listed nine transactions made under that account, a joint account of the mayor and his daughter and former Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
Rodrigo Duterte later admitted the existence of such bank account but insisted that it did not contain millions of pesos as alleged.
Trillanes also claimed having obtained information about Duterte’s supposed 17 other bank accounts also held jointly with Sara in separate banks.
These include seven joint accounts also at BPI Julia Vargas Branch, nine at BPI Greenhills and one at Banco de Oro in Davao City.
The accounts were held by Duterte from 2006 to 2015.
But instead of answering the issue directly, the mayor’s camp challenged Trillanes to execute an affidavit and reveal where and when he got his information and why he released it.
Duterte has expressed willingness to open his bank accounts but only if Trillanes signed an affidavit.
The senator, however, rejected the challenge, insisting he would not reveal his source.
He said that the mayor should stop trying to divert the issue and just tell the truth about the bank account. On Duterte agreeing to open his account at BPI Julia Vargas Branch through his representative, lawyer Salvador Panelo, in order to show how much deposit it contained, Trillanes said the opening of the account should include the transaction history of the account.
“Just to be clear, the opening of the account should not be limited to the current account balance alone. It should also include the transaction history for the past nine years,” the senator said.
Trillanes said what he demands is important because if Duterte has already withdrawn the money before Monday, then the total amount of transactions would not be reflected in the current account balance.
Not all of Duterte’s bank accounts were created equal, the camp of Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas  said yesterday.
They said the mayor maintains a dollar account with BPI–an account that cannot be scrutinised under any circumstances under the country’s existing Foreign Currency Deposit law.
The existence of Duterte’s dollar account was tested by the Roxas camp, which deposited $10 (about P460) into the dollar account provided by Trillanes. Roxas camp later showed the transaction record of the deposit it made.
“I have additional information. Today, $10 was deposited in one of these accounts and we have confirmed that this account is under the name of Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Sara Duterte,” Roxas said.
Under the Foreign Currency Deposit law, all foreign currency deposits are considered to be of an absolutely confidential nature and, except upon the written permission of the depositors, in no instance shall such foreign currency deposits be examined, inquired or looked into by any person, government official, bureau or office whether judicial or administrative or private.
Further, the law states, “Foreign currency deposits shall be exempt from attachment, garnishment or any other order or process of any court, legislative body, government agency or any administrative body whatsoever.” Duterte was earlier quoted as saying he had no dollar account.
“Again, he lied. Time’s up, Mayor Duterte. Tell the truth. He said he is willing to sign a waiver of his rights under the Bank Secrecy Law. Now, he is saying that he should be charged first before he makes a waiver. Does he have a word of honour?” Roxas said.
Under the law, bank account holders have absolute right to secrecy as to the details of their deposits in Philippine peso, except under four circumstances: upon written permission of the depositor; in cases of impeachment; upon order of a competent court in bribery or dereliction of duty cases of public officials or unexplained wealth such as plunder; and in cases where the money is the subject matter of litigation.
Meanwhile, spokesman Paola Alvarez of PDP-Laban, Duterte’s political party, slammed the mayor’s rivals, whom she said have found it fashionable to sign bank waivers.
“When Mayor Duterte and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano signed a bank waiver and challenged their rivals to do the same, no single candidate heeded their call. Now that Mayor Duterte is leading the presidential elections and is on the brink of victory, they not only joined Sen. Trillanes’ ridiculous accusations, they are now signing bank waivers left and right. It is downright hypocritical,” she said.