Duterte camp: P211-M bank account product of ‘fertile, malicious mind’

The camp of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said the presidential candidate's alleged P210 million hidden bank account is a product of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV's "fertile and malicious mind."

“Trillanes is a desperate man. A man who has not discarded his putschist past and who has not shown any remorse for his reckless acts,” Peter Laviña, spokesperson of Duterte, said in a statement.

Trillanes claimed that Duterte had at least P211 million in an account at a bank branch in Metro Manila in 2014, which he failed to declare in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

The senator added in a television interview that the bank account has been verified and validated by a daily newspaper where the report first came out.

Trillanes claimed that the bank account was supposedly under the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) branch along Julia Vargas Avenue in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

"I stand by my track record in exposing political pretenders like Mayor Duterte," he said, noting that Duterte must answer all the allegations against him.

Trillanes also challenged Duterte to sign a waiver for the bank account.

"Tignan natin if he signs the waiver of bank secrecy law. For that matter, I challenge him to sue me for libel because one, he does then his bank account is now subject of litigation and therefore is exempted for bank secrecy," he said.

In the statement, Duterte's camp reminded that the mayor and his running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, have signed a waiver to open their bank accounts during their visit in the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna.

“Anything they will find in there (bank accounts) that is excessive, not declared and not in their SALNs are for Trillanes to own,” Laviña said.

Laviña also accused Trillanes of acting as an "attack dog" of Duterte's rival in the presidential race, Sen. Grace Poe.

Trillanes, who is running for vice president, had announced that his group is supporting the presidential candidacy of Poe. —Trisha Macas/ALG, GMA News