Trillanes to Duterte: Stop taunting critics, answer allegations

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Sunday called on President Rodrigo  Duterte to stop taunting his critics and instead answer allegations against him.

"Para naman kay Mr. Duterte, tigilan mo na ang mga paninindak mo sa mga taong tumitindig para sa tama at para sa katotohanan. 'Wag ka magtago sa kapangyarihan ng president," he said in a statement.

"Magpakalalaki at harapin mo ang mga paratang sa 'yo. Kung wala kang tinatago, pumirma ka ng waiver para malaman ang katotohanan," he added.

Trillanes claimed during the May presidential campaign that Duterte had at least P211 million in an account with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) along Julia Vargas Avenue in Pasig City.

Duterte had admitted he owned bank accounts at the said branch, but the funds in the accounts were only in thousands of pesos.

Last month, Duterte claimed that Trillanes had offshore accounts which may be being used to destabilize the government.

Trillanes flew to Singapore on September 19 to check on the supposed accounts, where he was informed by a branch manager that there was no account in DBS.

Duterte then said he read out the wrong account number on purpose to fool Trillanes, and that the number he read out, 178000296012, was made up.

On September 26, however, Duterte said Trillanes closed his bank account in Singapore online before he signed a waiver and lew out of the country to disprove the Chief Executive's claims.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman said it has found sufficient basis to start its probe into the alleged multi-billion peso wealth of the President and his family.

Duterte had threatened to create a commission that would investigate the Office of the Ombudsman over alleged corruption, a move seen by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales as an intimidation. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/ALG, GMA News