Duterte, Trillanes must sign waivers

THIS POLITICAL ping pong game between President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Antonio Trillanes over their millions hidden in the bank has dragged on too long. It’s time the people forced them into a sudden-death, by opening their accounts to scrutiny.

The game layout is simple enough. Trillanes has accused Duterte of hiding more than P200 million in secret bank accounts. Duterte in turn says Trillanes has his own dirty millions stashed away abroad. The implication is that some laws have been violated.

Both gentlemen are probably telling the truth about the other – or if not the whole truth, at least a justiciable portion of it.

To cut the verbiage, we can take at face value the claim of both Duterte and Trillanes that they are law-abiding, honorable officials ready to open for examination their bank accounts (whatever is now left after a mopping up).

This might look structured, but we suggest that some credible civic groups form a Transparency Board to manage the showdown after the two parties sign a common waiver for a professional audit of their accounts and the publication of the findings.

Whoever refuses to sign the waiver will be deemed to be hiding something incriminating.

The audit would cover the parties’ peso and foreign currency deposits in specified banks over a defined period, ending with the current balances. The examination would just ferret out the numbers without touching on legal and criminal liability.

The findings will be published, without prejudice to Duterte and Trillanes issuing their respective clarifications, if any, that should not be longer than the audit report.

That proposed common audit might prove to be too stiff for comfort. One of the parties might feel he is being pulled down to the level of the other. As fallback, we can have Duterte and Trillanes – on their own – simply authorizing their banks to allow scrutiny of their accounts.

• China invading Phl with drugs

BACK to the subject of the scourge of narcotics, we share below an article emailed to us by reader Clarence Paul V. Oaminal of Cebu City titled “China’s invasion of the Philippines through drugs”:

“The world’s most experienced country on the drug war is China, not as a victor but as a loser. It suffered its most humiliating defeat in the Opium Wars in mid-19th Century. It was insulted when forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking where Hong Kong was ceded to the British Empire. Worst, China was compelled to open its ports to British merchants who continued to flood China with opium from India (then another British colony).

“Taou-kwang, the Emperor of China, declared war after his sons died from opium overdose. The personal vendetta became the nation’s war, but the British knew that they could easily defeat the more than one million soldiers of China with their few thousand soldiers even before the first burst of gunfire. Why? Because China had long been defeated by the British when the Chinese succumbed to opium addiction.

“China is a wise nation, being a student of history. They know how to conquer others and make their own country strong. China dispenses the fastest justice on drug crimes. Drug users are forced to undergo treatment and rehabilitation, while manufacturers and peddlers are executed after a speedy trial.

“China wants the West Philippine Sea, but there is no need for them to fire one shot to capture our country. What they need to do, and they have done it, is to flood it with shabu (meth), a modern opiate. The huge shabu supplies seized in the country in the last three decades came from China, as all the essential chemicals, laboratory equipment and chemists.

“It is foolish not to believe that transporting shabu or smuggling its chemicals from China must have the consent of that state. There is only one rule in China: it does not care if you ship narcotics out of China but never must you sell or make them available in China itself.”

• Du30 must ask China to stop it

CONTINUING, Oaminal said: “This being so, our President must plead with China to stop, or diplomatically ask it to prevent, the entry of illegal drugs from there.

“The President must also convince China that there is no need to invade or occupy the Philippines or any part of it, if only for these reasons:

“1. The Philippines has long been overrun by China. No province, city or municipality has zero Chinese influence. Officials are either influenced by Chinese or the business sector controlled by Chinese. We have been swamped by ‘Made in China’ products down to the last household. The country’s richest men are Chinese.

“2. Philippine presidents have had advisers, financiers and powerful Cabinet members who are Chinese. The President’s closest assistant is Chinese. Our presidents have long been under the spell of China. When our presidents travel, there are always Chinese in the welcome or sendoff parties, including some drug smugglers.

“Since this has been the normal scenario, the President must tell China that:

“1. There is no need for projects or donations from China as long as they stop shipment of illegal drugs to the Philippines, unless Beijing will claim being so weak or incompetent that they cannot prevent their criminals from transporting shabu to our country.

“2. The Philippines will deport to China all Chinese (and others of Chinese descent) who are in jail, either with pending cases or already convicted, and ask that they be executed upon arrival. There is no death penalty in the Philippines. Even if there were, only small-time drug peddlers would be executed because the drug kingpins have padrinos in the government.

“The main supply entry points of drugs are seaports/airports, and the major source is China. The dreaded drugs must not reach our shores and our homes.”

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ADVISORY: All Postscripts from 1997 to the present can be accessed at manilamail.com. Follow me on Twitter as @FDPascual. Email feedback to [email protected]