Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte and Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Is Duterte doing a “Binay?”
Liberal Party standard-bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II posed this question to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte after flip-flopping on the ownership of his alleged secret bank account at the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI).
“Parehas na ba kayo ni Vice President (Jejomar) Binay na umiiwas sa katotohanan? Umiiwas sa pagtingin dito sa mga bank accounts ninyo?” Roxas said of Duterte, the leading presidential candidate, in a media briefing on Friday.
(Do you evade the truth like Vice President Binay? Are you avoiding public scrutiny on your accounts?)
READ: Roxas calls Duterte ‘liar’ over bank account exposé
Roxas likened Duterte to Binay, who was dodging his corruption allegations by not showing up in previous Senate hearings. Binay is facing corruption charges over the allegedly anomalous construction of the Makati City Hall Building II and the Makati City Science High School.
The former Interior secretary lambasted Duterte for taking back his earlier claims on his alleged bank accounts containing billions of pesos undeclared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) in 2014.
READ: Duterte has dollar account, Roxas confirms
Failing to declare an asset is a ground for dismissal from government service.
“Di ba ang unang sagot niya ay hindi siya pipirma ng waiver dahil wala nga, “fabrication” itong mga accounts na ito? Eh ngayon na napatunayan na totoo, mayroong mga bank accounts na ganito, bakit ayaw niya na ngayong pirmahan itong mga waiver na ito?” said Roxas.
(Didn’t he say he wouldn’t sign a waiver as he claimed these accounts stemmed from fabrication? Now that the existence of these accounts has been proven, why doesn’t he sign a waiver?)
A day after Inquirer reported that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a supporter of presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe, has documents to prove that Duterte had an account with P211 million, Duterte dismissed Trillanes’ claims and called it just a “fabrication.” He said he will not issue a waiver for a non-existent account.
READ: A fabrication, says Duterte who will not issue waiver
On Thursday, Duterte admitted the existence of his BPI account on Julia Vargas Avenue in Pasig City but said his two bank accounts had only P17,500 and P50,000.
Earlier Friday, Duterte took back his previous statement and said his BPI account had “a little less than P211 million.”
“Pabago-bago ang salita, pabago-bago ang posisyon ni Mayor Duterte. Ito ang kanyang pattern. Hindi maaasahan ang kanyang sinasabi. Simula pa lang, kahit sa anong isyu, ‘pag tinapatan siya ng katotohanan, biglang magmumura, mang-iinsulto, tapos iiwas at papalitan ang usapin,” Roxas said.
(Mayor Duterte has been flip-flopping. This is his pattern. His words are not reliable. From the start, in any issue, when he is confronted with the truth, he would utter bad words, insult and he will avoid and change the topic.)
“Ang sagot mo ngayon ay kasuhan ka muna bago mabuksan itong mga accounts na ito. Hindi ba ‘yun din ang sagot ni Vice President Binay sa mga alegasyon ng korapsyon laban sa kanila?” he added.
(Your response is to file a case against you to open these accounts. Isn’t it the same with Vice President Binay’s answer to allegations of corruption against them?)
Roxas also urged Duterte to be truthful in his statements because the people are expecting honesty and accountability from public officials.
“Magpakatotoo po tayo, Mayor Duterte. Inaasahan ng mga kababayan natin ang buong katotohanan at wala nang iba,” he said. RAM
(Let us be truthful, Mayor Duterte. Our countrymen are expecting nothing but the full truth.)
