‘Kanya-kanyang style,’ Abella says on Duterte’s admission he made up Trillanes account number

Malacañang on Wednesday defended President Rodrigo Duterte’s admission that he made up the account number he is alleging Senator Antonio Trillanes IV of owning in a Singapore bank.

“May kanya-kanyang style. As we very well know, the President is quite unorthodox and out of the box when he deals,” presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella told reporters in an interview before the Senate finance committee’s budget hearing on the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

“Unorthodox as it may seem, on the whole, apparently, the impact of his actions tend to be economically viable,” Abella said.

Abella further said that Duterte should be given credit for being honest when he admitted during a live interview aired on state-owned PTV-4 that he read out the wrong account number last week.

“Malinaw naman siya, hindi naman niya tinago ‘yun, which is to his credit. So malinaw siya kung anong paniniwalaan mo o hindi,” Abella said.

“Credit him on his sources. And he has his own internal logic. He has his own game plan and the way he [does] things. I think we should--it's best to see that he does his things within particular context,” he added.

Abella said Duterte’s statement does not mean that he also made up the other foreign accounts he is accusing Trillanes of owning. The President had also accused Trillanes of maintaining accounts in Zurich, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Australia, America, among others.

“This is a particular case that’s what he was saying, that he intentionally did that. But first and foremost, he comes out in the open. He doesn’t hide anything, right? In other words, he’s quite transparent about his intentions, he’s transparent about his actions,” Abella said.

On Tuesday, a DBS Bank branch in Singapore said Trillanes does not have any accounts with them, refuting Duterte’s allegations.

Later that night, Duterte claimed he gave the wrong account number to fool Trillanes.

"Wala ito. Produkto ng isip ko ito. Tinanggalan ko talaga. Ginamit mo. Nag-issue ka ng waiver... Iba ang account number, iba ang totoo," he said.

Trillanes had already signed bank secrecy waivers covering all account numbers he is being accused of owning by the Facebook page Davao Breaking News, Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson and broadcaster Erwin Tulfo. — RSJ, GMA News