DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 Apr) – The camp of presidential candidate Rodrigo R.
Duterte called Sen. Antonio Trillanes “desperate” amid his new accusation thrown at the Davao City mayor about his alleged undeclared wealth of P211 million.
In an emailed statement on Wednesday, Duterte’s campaign team quoted Peter T. Laviña, who heads his media group, as saying that the allegation of Trillanes is “nothing but a publicity stunt.”
“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,” he added.
Trillanes, in Philippine Daily Inquirer report on Wednesday, alleged that Duterte has a joint account with his daughter comebacking mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio deposited at the Bank Philippine Islands (BPI) branch on Julia Vargas Avenue in Pasig City.
“The Duterte camp branded the allegation as a product of the senator’s fertile and malicious mind,” he said.
Laviña said that Duterte and his running mate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano had already waived their bank secrecy rights after signing a manifesto on March 11, 2016 at the University of the Philippines (UP) Los Baños.
In his Facebook post, former North Cotabato governor Manny Piñol, a known staunch supporter of Duterte, said Trillanes overlooked this minor detail that would have put more credibility to his allegation.
“I guess this marks the carelessness and lack of attention to details of a rebel soldier who stages a coup inside a luxurious Makati hotel, who later surrenders and, guess what, stages another rebellion inside another 5-star hotel, and surrenders again,” he said.
Laviña said that Trillions, who is running for vice president, “has been on the warpath ever since” after he was turned down by Duterte to be his running mate in the May 9 elections.
Piñol said PDP-Laban’s standard-bearer has been the subject of attacks by rivals after he widened his lead in the latest political surveys.
“Senator Antonio Trillanes earlier claimed that in a meeting with Duterte, the Davao City mayor related to him how he executed people. And how many times did Trillanes meet Duterte. Twice, according to Duterte. Now, out of pure common sense, would Duterte be so comfortable with Trillanes as to tell him how he ‘executed’ people?” he said.
Duterte first became mayor from 1988 to 1998. He served as representative of the first district from 1998 to 2001, mayor again from 2001 to 2010. He was elected vice mayor from 2010 to 2013 with daughter Sara as mayor. In 2013, he was elected mayor for the seventh time with son Paolo as vice mayor.
“Duterte has been very proud of one thing – that in his long years of public service he has not been tainted by issues of corruption… The man will defend his honor even if it means his death,” Piñol said.
