Trillanes on Duterte’s DAP allegation: ‘Another imbento’

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Thursday said President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement that he will soon face charges in connection with the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) is “another imbento.”

“Another imbento ni Duterte. Panglihis lang yan ng issue dahil napahiya na siya doon sa foreign bank accounts issue,” Trillanes said in a statement.

“Anyway, na audit na lahat yan ng COA at na-clear lahat yan na walang anomalya. Lahat ng proyekto na in-allocate ng aking opisina na mula sa PDAF o DAP ay naka-publish sa aking website,” he added.

Duterte said in a PTV-4 interview on Tuesday night that Trillanes would face a DAP-related case.

“Pilipino, niloloko kayo ng isang tao na pinag-aral ninyo sa Academy, Philippine Military Academy. ‘Yun ‘yung nagwala diyan sa Makati, tapos he pictured himself to be a righteous one,” Duterte said.

Trillanes is a member of the Magdalo group, which launched uprisings against the Arroyo administration.

“Inaatake niya ‘yang si Arroyo for corruption. Only to join a corrupt regime at nagkaroon ng deposito ngayon. So saan ka nagkuha ng 196 kung mahirap ka? Wala siyang bank account. Ibig sabihin pati sa Pilipinas, wala kang bank account? Sa Senador mo, wala kang isang bangko lang na dinedepositahan mo? Saan pala ‘yung kinita mo sa DAP?” he added.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that certain acts under the DAP were unconstitutional.

Duterte also previously admitted that he invented the account number he earlier accused Trillanes of owning to fool the senator.

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

Trillanes flew to Singapore earlier this week to debunk Duterte’s claims that he owns foreign bank accounts.

A DBS Bank branch teller and manager informed Trillanes that he does not own any account with them.

Trillanes had also submitted bank secrecy waivers covering all accounts he’s being accused of owning. — RSJ/KVD, GMA News