Trillanes flies to Singapore, claims no offshore accounts

FILE: Senator Antonio Trillanes III and President Rodrigo Duterte (Photo taken from internet)

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Tuesday denied President Rodrigo Duterte’s allegations that he has two secret bank accounts in Singapore.

Trillanes, who flew to DBS bank Alexandra Branch in Singapore, said the bank teller told him such accounts don’t exist.

“Naipakita ko dito sa pagpunta ko mismo sa DBS bank Alexandra Branch dito sa Singapore na hindi totoo ang paratang ni Duterte na meron daw akong bank account dito. “No such accounts exist” ang sabi ng bank teller ng ipinakita ko ang aking passport kasama ang dalawang account numbers na galing kina Duterte, Erwin Tulfo at Mocha Uson [I have shown exactly here at DBS Bank Alexandra Road branch in Singapore that there is no truth in Duterte’s accusations. The bank teller said no such account exists when I present my passport with the two account numbers from Duterte, Erwin Tulfo, and Mocha Uson],” Trillanes said.

Earlier, Duterte claimed that Trillanes has “193,000” of undetermined currency in Account 178000296012 at the branch of DBS Bank in Alexandra Retail Center in Singapore.

Tulfo,  a PTV-4 journalist, and Communications assistant secretary Uson had posted on social media the details of the senator’s supposed offshore accounts.

Trillanes also inquired if there were single or joint accounts in their bank, whether existing or closed, under names Antonio F. Trillanes IV or Antonio F. Trillanes but again the teller answered: “no such accounts exist.”

The senator added that he, together with some of the members of the media, then tried to go an HSBC branch at Raffles City Tower but the bank was nonexistent.

“Pinuntahan naman namin sunod yung sinasabi nilang Hongkong Shanghai Bank Raffles Branch na kung saan ay meron din daw akong account. Subalit, walang ganitong bangko kahit saan man sa mundo [We went next to the Hongkong Shanghai Bank Raffles where they say that I also have an account. However, there is no bank like this anywhere in the world],” Trillanes said.

“Kaya pinuntahan na lang namin ang Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) sa Raffles City Tower na ito ang lumalabas sa Google. Subalit wala ring HSBC branch sa Raffles City Tower. Pinuntahan naman namin ang HSBC sa Raffles Blvd. pero ATM lang ang meron doon.  [That’s why we just when to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) in Raffles City Tower. However, there is still no HSBC branch in Raffles City Tower. We also went to the HSBC in Raffles Blvd. but there is only an ATM there] A quick check at the HSBC Singapore website showed that there is no HSBC Raffles Branch,” he added.

Trillanes also said that it’s already checkmate for the president after the senator refuted the latter’s claim on the alleged overseas bank accounts. He also challenged Duterte to just signed waivers that would allow the scrutiny of the president’s alleged bank accounts.

“Mr. Duterte, pusoy ka na. Checkmate ka na. Wag ka na magpalusot. Pumirma ka na lang ng waiver para malaman na ng mga loyalista mo kung gano ka kakurakot [Mr. Duterte, you are caught. You’re already checkmate. Don’t make excuses. Just sign waivers in order for your loyalists to know how corrupt you are], ” the senator said.

The senator added that the allegations were just Duterte’s way to divert the attention away from corruption and smuggling issues that his son Vice-mayor Paolo Duterte and his son-in-law Atty. Manases Carpio are facing.

“Maliwanag na nagsisinungaling si Duterte at gawa gawa lang nila ang mga paratang niya na meron akong mga foreign bank accounts [It is clear that Duterte is lying and they only fabricated the allegations against me that I have bank accounts],” Trillanes also said.

“Ito ay ginagawa niya para siraan ako bilang kritiko niya at para malihis ang atensyon sa involvement ng anak nyang si Polong sa illegal drug shipment at sa BOC smuggling; at sa paratang ko na meron syang bilyon bilyong pisong deposits sa BPI accounts niya [He is doing it to discredit me as his critic and to divert attention away from the involvement of his son, Polong, on the illegal drug shipment and BOC smuggling; and to my accusations that he has billions of pesos of deposits on his BPI accounts],” he added.