Senator Antonio Trillanes 4th on Thursday vowed to resign as a senator and withdraw from the vice presidential race if his claim that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte did not declare P211 million in the mayor’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) will be proven wrong.
In a news conference, Trillanes challenged Duterte to sign a waiver for his Bank of the Phlippine Islands (BPI) account, which the senator said contains P211 million.
Trillanes showed the media a “mother document” that contains bank details of Duterte and his three children--Paolo, Sara and Sebastian.
He said if the mayor wins in the May 9 elections, he will use the bank document as basis for the filing of an impeachment complaint against Duterte.
“Gagawin ko itong [This will be the] basis for an impeachment complaint, ako ang mangunguna diyan. Kaya ngayon pa lang harapin mo na itong issue na ito. Kung magkamali man ako, wala na ako sa pulitika [I will lead. It will be better if you face this issue now. If I am proven wrong, then I’m out of politics]. That is one way of dealing with me,” Trillanes added.
According to him, the P211 million that Duterte has in the bank is just the tip of the iceberg.
“Meron pang mas malaki diyan [He has more]. It will come out once we have verified it. We’re just making sure that our count is correct. This is hundreds of millions. I can’t preempt it yet kasi mahirap magkamali sa figures. Ngayon ang sa akin dito, pwede siyang magtago sa legalities. Pero sa issue na ito, natanggal yung yabang niya eh. Nagtatago siya sa legalities,” Trillanes said.
In March, Duterte and his running mate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano signed a waiver that will supposedly open their bank accounts for public scrutiny and asked their rivals to do the same.
Trillanes, however, said the waiver they offered to be signed was not accepted by the bank.
“The Duterte campaign is based on a lie, is based on a propaganda. Hindi po paraiso ang Davao [Davao is no paradise], hindi sila [they are not the] safest city. Si Mayor Duterte wala siyang anti-crime agenda, wala siyang anti-corruption agenda, hindi siya natutulog sa kulambo, kung ano-ano man na gimmick. Hindi po totoo yun. Bilyonaryo po yung mama [Mayor Duterte has no anti-crime agenda, he has no anti-corruption agenda. He’s a billionaire,” the senator added.
“The challenge remains. Once and for all let’s end this. Kung hindi ito totoo [If this is not true], you have the chance to get rid of a Senator Trillanes forever. Ilabas mo, pirmahan mo, punta tayo sa bangko, pag mali ako [Bring the waiver out, sign it,let’s go to the bank,if I am wrong] I will resign on the spot and I will withdraw my candidacy,” Trillanes said.
He dared Duterte to show up at the BPI Julia Vargas branch on Monday so that they will know who is telling the truth.