President Rodrigo Duterte (Photo from an RTVM video)
President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated Friday he was ready to resign as the country’s chief executive if there is solid evidence against his son’s involvement in corrupt activities.
But Duterte made it clear he won’t accept a “garbage” evidence like the corruption allegations hurled by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV against his son Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.
“Itong anak kong si Pulong, sinabi ko bigyan niyo lang ako ng affidavit na may taong nagbigay (kay Paolo), siya mismo (tumanggap), may camera, may audio mas maganda, na tinanggap niya at narinig ko ‘ito bayad sa ano,’” Duterte said in a speech during the 11th anniversary of the Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City.
READ: Duterte: I’ll quit if my son is into corruption
(My son Pulong, I told that you just give me an affidavit that my son received it, there’s a camera, there’s audio much better, that he received it and I heard “here’s my payment to you.”)
Pulong is the nickname of Duterte’s son.
Trillanes has claimed that the younger Duterte and the President’s son-in-law, Manases “Mans” Carpio, were receiving bribe money to facilitate the entry and release of shipments at the Bureau of Customs.
Both Paolo and Carpio have denied the senator’s accusations.
Duterte reiterated his oft-repeated line that he was ready to resign if one of his children were involved in corruption.
“I have assured you (that), noon pa pag-upo ko kasi importante yan, your trust (ever since I assumed office, trust is very important),” the President said.
But he said he would not accept any evidence from Trillanes, one of his staunchest critic, saying all the senator’s accusations were “garbage.”
“Kung may ebidensya, huwag ‘yung kay Trillanes kasi basura man talaga lahat ‘yan (If there is evidence, not that came from Trillanes because they are garbage),” he said.
The name of Paolo has been dragged into the alleged corruption activities at the Bureau of Customs and tagged him as among the people behind the so-called “Davao Group.” JPV