By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS
IF you have to resort to lies in a conflict, it only indicates that you are not on the side of truth.
It’s becoming obvious that the expose of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV of Davao City Mayor Duterte’s bank transactions that can go up to as much as P2.4 billion has hit hard the frontrunner in the May 9 presidential elections, more than his infamous rape comment.
Although I seriously doubt if this latest controversy would bring him down from number one in the race, the issue would hound him even if he wins the presidency.
So far, his actions are that of a person twisting and digging himself in a quicksand.
When Trillanes IV first made his expose alleging that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is not the poor and honest public servant that he presents himself to the public because he had more than P200 million in his BPI Julia Vargas branch account in 2014 which he did not include in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN), Duterte called the senator a “liar” and dismissed the bank account as a “fabrication.”
“You can check with the bank. You go there,” Duterte said in a forum with the Makati Business Club April 27, the day the first expose came out in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
My friend took up Duterte’s challenge and went to BPI Alabang Town Center the next day, April 28, and deposited in the bank account number published by the Inquirer. It was accepted by the bank and she was given the receipt showing that the account is a joint account of Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Sara Duterte.
My friend sent me a photo copy of the deposit slip and I posted it in Facebook a little past 1:30 p.m. It immediately went viral shared by more than three thousand people in one hour.
Less than two hours after, Inquirer posted a breaking story, “Duterte admits existence of BPI accounts.”
Duterte said his account contained just a few thousands contrary to the more than P200 million that Trillanes exposed complete with the amounts and dates of the deposits. Eight of the ten deposits in 2014 totalling P197 million were made on the mayor’s birthday, March 28.
Trillanes dared Duterte to open his account so the public would know who is telling the truth.
Duterte accepted the challenge of Trillanes while revising the amount of his bank assets. It’s less than P200 million, he said. Now, he is talking of millions of pesos in the bank.
Duterte’s propaganda team released a bank balance of P17,000. But Trillanes said he will insist on the transaction history of the account.
Duterte then set a condition that he will only agree to the opening of his bank account records if Trillanes would reveal in an affidavit how he obtained the bank documents. That’s as good as not allowing the opening of his bank accounts.
Trillanes will be at the BPI Julia Vargas branch today, May 2 at 11 a.m. Duterte will not be there. He said he will in Davao but he will be represented by his lawyer, Salvador Panelo.
Meanwhile, Duterte’s cyber trolls are on a rampage. My FP post linking my article on the evolution of Duterte’s BPI account was removed by Facebook.
Facebook removes post if they receive several complaints about it. Who would complain about an article on Duterte’s bank account?
I have been a subject of cyberbullying. The memes are actually hilarious in their stupidity which is something to be sad about because they are symptoms of a deeper problem in our society.
The other day, I got this text: “Mga DDS nais nyo ba maka txt message ang balasubas na super epal na senador antonio trillanes mayroon po ako personal cp no ng senator na epal na yan.kaya mga dds dumugin po natin sya at eh post ko sa lahat ng duterte pages ang personal nya cp no.”
DDS stands for Davao Death Squad.
