Duterte says politics ‘dirty’; OK with opening ‘everybody’s account’

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has floated the idea of lifting bank secrecy and order the opening of “everybody’s accounts” as he lamented how politics in the country has become a dirty game, especially during the election period.

“Public office is a very honorable thing but politics, well, everywhere is always dirty,” Duterte said in an interview on Saturday in Davao City.

“If you want — anybody who is interested could always go to me and tell me — tell me publicly and I will ask the Central Bank governor to open everybody’s account, my account, your account, lahat ng Pilipino na may bangkong — pera sa bangko, (every Filipino who has a bank account)” he said.The President even recounted how he has been accused of having amassed billions during the 2016 presidential elections, which he claimed was baseless but was still carried by some networks.

“Alam mo sa election time, magkababa — pati nga ang mga network eh sumama sa babuyan. (Every election, even the media networks join the dirty game.) Ganyan (It’s like that), it’s garbage. And even the networks really were into garbage, ‘yung billion-billion (in billions),” he said.

Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has accused Duterte of having billions of pesos in bank transactions.

Duterte had repeatedly rejected the allegations.

Edited by KGA