I still have trust in BPI

The so-called bombshell that vice presidential candidate Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has thrown against presidential front-runner Davao City Mayor Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte that he has P211 million in his Bank of the Philippine Islands account has resulted in a collateral damage that if it is not well-managed or contained could result in a serious lost in the people's trust in our banking system, not just BPI.

I've been a long time depositor of BPI and I'm glad that Mr. Jose Teodoro Limcaoco, Chief Financial Officer of the Ayala Corporation, the parent company of BPI, and former President of BPI Family Savings Bank, has issued a statement saying, "I don't know where Sen. Trillanes got his information, but the graphic posted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer showing alleged credits, that is not a BPI document." This is a very comforting statement to hear from BPI's tom officialdom especially to us BPI depositors!

That official BPI statement has staved off a potential bank run that Duterte supporters tried to initiate. I dare say it here that even if I have not yet seen what happened in that meeting between Duterte's lawyer and Trillanes, I still have full confidence that BPI will honor the Bank Secrecy Law. But may I suggest to the BPI officialdom to conduct an investigation on this case. For all we know, Trillanes had some inside information, which he may have used against Duterte. I know that BPI already did its initial investigation and I would like to believe that Trillanes was merely going on a fishing expedition.

Mind you, Trillanes vowed that he would withdraw from his candidacy if he will be found to be lying. But if you checked all the surveys from a few months ago to the last one, Trillanes was trailing so badly in the polls, his offer to withdraw from the vice presidential race has no impact on the results of this election. It is meaningless! In short, he is offering nothing. If he withdraws from this race, it is only because he is trying to lose face being the last on the VP list and this is nothing to crow about.       

This is the problem with the media today that also splashes the news that Trillanes is trying to sell to the public with only one sole purpose, to derail the lead of Mayor Rody Duterte. In short they are selling newspapers or TV time to coax people into believing what Trillanes was saying. The latest that Trillanes sold to the media is that Duterte has properties. Wait a minute, since when was it illegal to own properties in this country? I think Trillanes has gone too far. We know that he is the attack dog of the Aquino regime and we are paying him our taxpayer's money to become a senator. Come now, wasn't he supposed to be in jail for the Oakwood mutiny? How come he has not been convicted of that crime?

Again let me say it here that if Duterte is leading in the presidential race, it is largely due to the fact that the Aquino regime has used the yellow propaganda machinery to blow up his own horn to the point that even President Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III has started to believe in his own yarn. Just last Friday, a statement from PNoy was headlined in the Philippine Star, which blared, "Noy: No one can top my achievement!"

This statement from the president only gives you an idea that what goes on in his mind does not reflect the reality on the ground. What achievements has he done in this six years in the office? Let me count a few. Under his watch, the once efficient Metro Rail Transit has now caused massive embarrassment to the hundreds of thousands of commuters in Metro Manila. This is why Metro Manilans are supporting Duterte.

Under PNoy's watch, the international airport named after his own father, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport has been dubbed as "the worst international airport in the world." To add to its woes, here is the problem of the "tanim bala" which remains unsolved until today. Thanks to Daang Matuwid, PNoy would never fire his own "bata-bata" Gen. Jose Angel Honrado under whose watch the NAIA is in chaos!

Should we mention that under PNoy, he used the Disbursement Acceleration Program and the Priority Development Assistance Program to the hilt? But in the end, the Supreme Court in an en banc decision, declared the DAP and PDAF as unconstitutional.

If you recall, PNoy took an oath as president of the land to uphold and not violate the constitution of the land. Now he would be facing criminal charges for violation of the constitution for misusing the DAP and PDAF, which he used to convict the recently deceased former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

We can actually list all his sins, but we'd run out of space. While doing their worst, they make Duterte more popular than ever! How stupid!

*  *  *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com