Trillanes to Duterte: Enough gimmick, sign waiver

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday dared Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to sign a bank waiver to prove that he has no hidden wealth amounting to P211 million stashed in a BPI branch in Pasig City.

At a press conference in Quezon City, Trillanes invited Duterte to meet him on May 2 at 11 a.m. at the BPI branch on Julia Vargas Avenue in Pasig to sign the waiver, adding the one Duterte and his running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, earlier signed was purely for "gimmick" and is not valid.

"Yung pinirmahan nila, yung gimmick nila ni Senator Cayetano, general yun eh. Ang kailangan daw ng bangko, ang tatanggapin lang nila is yung naka-address sa kanilang bangko, head office man or specific branch, tapos nakalagay pati yung mga accounts," he said.

Sen Trillanes: Bank waiver signed by Cayetano and Duterte a "gimmick" pic.twitter.com/DV61e0rUi9

— Rie Takumi (@rie_takumi) April 28, 2016

Trillanes said he would resign from the Senate and quit the vice presidential race if his accusations against Duterte were proven false.

"Pagka nagkamali ako, pinirmahan mo 'to at lumabas dun, mali ang akusasyon ko, magre-resign ako sa Senado at magwi-withdraw ako bilang kandidato sa pagka-bise presidente," he said.

Why only now?

Duterte, a front runner in the presidential race based on recent Pulse Asia surveys, has dismissed Trillanes' accusation as "garbage" and questioned its timing.

Trillanes said he only brought up the issue now as he only received evidence of the mayor's alleged wealth last week.

"Kung nakuha ko ito nung January, January ko ito nilabas. Pero ngayon ko lang ho ito nakuha, last week lang, through my network of informants," Trillanes said without identifying his sources.

Trillanes said that if Duterte did not sign the waiver and was elected president, the evidence present can be used as a basis for an impeachment case against him.

More hidden wealth?

Trillanes said his camp will unveil a longer list of accounts that Duterte and his children own in secret as soon as their facts are doble-checked by accountants and collated. He had earlier said the P211 million was just the tip of the iceberg.

Sen. Trillanes presents new collation of Duterte and family's bank accounts and transactions pic.twitter.com/cqFcFZTxSj

— Rie Takumi (@rie_takumi) April 28, 2016

"Meron pang mas malaki diyan. It will come out pagka na-verify na namin. We're just making sure na tama yung pagbilang natin," he said.

The senator estimated that Duterte had "hundreds of millions" stashed away and even expressed belief that he may be a billionaire.

"Wala pa yung mga nasa baul, yung mga nakapangalan sa ibang mga tao. Meron siyang mga real properties. Malalim ito, malalim," Trillanes said.

Duterte also allegedly had P1 billion in confidential funds as the mayor of Davao City.

"Meron siyang one billion na confidential funds na hindi ito subject sa audit per year. Sinabi niya in one speech nagbibigay siya ng P125 million per year sa NPA," Trillanes said, referring to the New People's Army rebels, with whom Duterte is allegedly close. —KBK, GMA News