Palace: Trillanes call for Duterte wealth inquiry 'old tune, old news'

MANILA, Philippines — The Palace on Monday dismissed as an “old tune” the filing of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV of a resolution calling on the Senate to conduct an inquiry into possible violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act by President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque stressed that the president and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio had nothing to hide after they were accused of owning bank accounts that had multimillion transactions in past years.

Roque said Trillanes was not in possession of authenticated documents and the Anti-Money Laundering Council itself had denied providing him with papers and data that would prove the senator’s allegations.

“It’s an old tune, old news. [He is like] a broken record,” Roque said in Filipino during a press conference at the palace.

READ:  Trillanes accuses Paolo Duterte, Carpio of having hundreds of millions in bank accounts

In filing the resolution, Trillanes, one of the biggest thorns on the side of Duterte since he sought the presidency in 2016, accused the Dutertes of having “undisclosed ‘covered’ transactions” in violation of the law.

Cash transactions of more than P500,000 and jewelry and precious metal transactions of more than P1 million are covered under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Trillanes cited a VERA Files report and said that the “covered” transactions included P48.17-million placement in 2016 which grew to P55.13 million in 2013; a P40.55-million investment in 2009 that stood at P41.72 million in 2013; about $220,000 (roughly P10 million), from 2006 to 2012; the purchase of P80 million in insurance policies in 2014 and a P16.85-million investment which began in 2014.

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, an ally of the president, was quick to dismiss the resolution and labeled it as a “tragic waste of time of the Senate” if it would push through.

He urged Trillanes to file a case in a “proper body” if he had evidence.

Roque also accused the political opposition of not being able to wait until the president ended his term in 2022 and of continuing to “take steps” to hasten his departure.

READ:  Trillanes claims Duterte had P2 billion in bank transactions

He challenged critics to do whatever they could to oust the chief executive and expressed confidence that Filipinos would support Duterte as shown by his very high approval rating.

“They should be careful as the more they try to remove the president the Filipino people will be mad at them. A people power might target them and not the president,” Roque said in Filipino.

The president’s spokesperson said Trillanes should have been able to secure authenticated documents to prove his point as he had been accusing the first family of having unexplained wealth since the run-up to the 2016 elections.

Trillanes said in 2016 that Duterte had P211 million in an account in the Bank of the Philippine Islands branch in Julia Vargas which he failed to declare in his 2014 Statement of Assets and Liabilities as required by law.