Trillanes, Cayetano exchange barbs over alleged Duterte millions

A little less than two weeks before the national elections slated on May 9, the camps of vice presidential bets and senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano traded barbs over a supposed P211-million bank account of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Trillanes, in a TV interview on Wednesday, 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).

"(T)his P211-million bank account is just tip of the iceberg. You would have no idea how wealthy Mayor Duterte (is)... You'll be surprised, you'll be amazed with the wealth of the guy," he said.

According to Trillanes, the account has already been verified by his camp and by a daily newspaper where the report also came out.

"(W)e verified it and the Inquirer itself validated the information that is why (they) came out with it," he added.

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.

"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.

‘Desperate’

Duterte's camp on Wednesday said the presidential candidate's alleged million-peso hidden bank account is a product of Trillanes' "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.

‘Shameful gimmick’

In an emailed statement, Cayetano, also the running mate of Duterte, dismissed the allegations and claimed that these are only part of smear campaigns.

"The allegation is clearly a desperate ploy to bring down Mayor Duterte and promote Sen. Trillanes' preferred presidential bet, Senator Grace Poe," Cayetano said in an emailed statement.

Trillanes has earlier announced that he is supporting Poe.

"It's quite sad that a supposed principled man like Sen. Trillanes will resort to such a cheap and shameful gimmick. It's a pity that Sen. Trillanes has reduced himself from being a protector of the people to a 'Poetector'," he added.

According to Cayetano, Duterte is the "only presidential candidate to sign a bank waiver."

"If the only thing that they can come up with is a baseless accusation against Mayor Duterte, clearly they have nothing on him," he said.

"I ask the people who yearn for real change not to be distracted and fooled by their desperate antics. We must remain focused. The enemies of change are clearly panicking. They are scared. They are throwing the everything including the kitchen sink at Mayor Duterte.[sic] They have all the reasons to be scared. Change is coming," he added.

‘Political monster’

A report by GMA News' Lia Mañalac on Balitanghali, meanwhile, quoted Trillanes as telling Cayetano not to meddle with the issue or he will be the next subject of his exposé.

He also said he made the exposé to prevent a "political monster" from being elected president, adding the public has the right to know about Duterte's real wealth.

Results of the latest Pulse Asia survey on presidential preference showed that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte remained as the top chosen presidential bet. 

Duterte got the nods of 34 percent of the respondents, followed by Senator Grace Poe (22 percent), Vice President Jejomar Binay (19 percent), former Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas, and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago (2 percent). —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/KG/KBK, GMA News