Roxas calls Duterte ‘liar’ over bank account exposé
“You are a liar,” Mar Roxas said of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday after the administration presidential candidate showed in public what he said was proof that the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) account of Duterte was existing.
“Mayor Duterte, tell the truth, our people deserve no less,” Roxas said in a press conference at the Liberal Party headquarters, moments after the mayor confirmed the existence of his account at BPI Julia Vargas Avenue branch in Ortigas, Pasig City.
READ: A fabrication, says Duterte who will not issue waiver
Duterte earlier denied owning the account in 2014, saying it was “fabricated and non-existent.” Later he said that, contrary to the claims of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV that his account contained millions of pesos, Duterte said his bank accounts only have about P50,000 and P17,500.
READ: Duterte admits existence of BPI accounts
Roxas said his camp had received a tip sent in an e-mail that the account was indeed existent. To verify, someone from Roxas’ camp then deposited P500 to the said account from the BPI New Farmers Market branch. The deposit slip showed it was owned by “Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Sara Z. Duterte.”
Flashing the bank deposit slip to the media, Roxas said: “Ang punto, sabi niya gawa gawa. Ngayon totoo naman?”
“Anong pwedeng panghawakan? Bakit natin papaniwalaan na ‘yon lang ang laman ng account eh nagsinungaling ka na dati, sabi mo fabrication ito. The account is non-existent, tapos ngayon it exists?” he said.
(The point is, he said that it was fabricated. Now [he says], its’ real?
(What guarantee do we have? Why would we believe that that’s all the account contains when you [Duterte] have lied before, you said it was a fabrication. The account is non-existent, and now it exists?)
Trillanes, who recently figured in verbal war with Duterte, said the mayor did not declare this in his 2014 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), where he reported a net worth of P21,971,732.62—assets worth P22,971,732.62 and a liability of P1 million.
READ: Trillanes: Duterte didn’t declare P211M in SALN
In front of the media, Roxas also signed the notarized affidavit of transparency authorizing the Office of the Ombudsman and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to scrutinize all his accounts.
Roxas also waived all his rights and privileges to bank secrecy under the Bank Secrecy Law. The affidavit of transparency will cover all his accounts starting from the year he first assumed office in government.
Duterte maintained that he would not issue a waiver for the said account. CDG
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