(Eagle News) – Calling Senator Antonio Trillanes IV a coward with no balls and a “tulisan” (brigand), President Rodrigo Duterte fired back at the senator for alleging that he had joint accounts with his children amounting to P2.2 billion that had been acquired illegally, saying he would immediately resign if Trillanes can prove this to be true.
Duterte, in a video recording aired by Malacanang’s RTVM announcing his statements, said he would also resign if Trillanes can prove that he even had at any point even half of the amount he mentioned under his name.
“This I can say, if Trillanes can prove his allegations that I have amassed P2 billion illegally or if that bank account under my name had a total deposit at one time of even just half a billion, I will resign as president immediately,” he said.
Duterte said Trillanes has “no political career” and is on his last term as senator.
Trillanes’ term expires in two years, he said, which ” explains his penchant for always daring the president to resign.”
He said it was actually Trillanes who is corrupt as he is known in the senate for his penchant for having “lucrative retainers”.
“It is known in the senate that Trillanes uses his office to ask for retainers and that this has become a lucrative business for him,” he said.
-Duterte to Trillanes: Prove your case in court
Duterte said that Trillanes had actually rehashed an old issue, that he had already answered during the presidential campaign.
“This is actually an old and rehashed issue. I have answered this allegation before I became president. The people have already spoken. They have placed me in office with 16 million votes,” he said.
The President then advised Trillanes to just file a case against him in court to prove his allegations and for the opposition senator to just “stop opening his mounth.”
“I would advise Trillanes to go to court and file a proper case against me. I advise him further to stop opening his mouth when he has nothing to say,” he said.
-Duterte: Trillanes, ignorant of banking, has “no balls”
The President said it was also “amusing” how Trillanes came out with his accounting of the bank transactions of his partner, Honeylet, saying the senator proved he was ignorant of the banking business and of how people with personal businesses keep deposits.
Duterte then explained how his partner had been in several businesses, including the doughnut and meat business, for several years, and of how she had been supplying meat in the five malls of Davao City for years.
“She supplies meat sa five malls dito sa Davao. Siya yung nagsusuply ng karne ng baboy. Dyan kalaki ng pera ng babaeng yan…Matiyaga. Hindi kagaya mo, ambisyoso! Mutiny, mutiny ka pa. Wala ka naman palang bayag. Taas kaagad kamay pagdating ng pulis. Nakakahiya ka. Sa totoo lang,” the President said recalling how Trillanes led the Oakwood munity in July 2003 at the time of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The Oakwood mutineers later surrendered to the government when they failed to get support from the public and the armed forces.
He also lashed at Trillanes for including his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sarah Duterte in his allegations of corruption.
“He must have also forgotten that my daughter Sara is a lawyer by profession, and she earns this and that, and she has clients who actually pay for her services, and not from illegal retainers which Trillanes is so used to doing,” Duterte said.
He also reminded Trillanes that his father also served as governor and he left the family some money.
“Hindi kami mahirap rin, Tatay ko gobernor noon. May iniwan sa amin,” the President said referring to his father, the late Davao governor Vicente Duterte who had also served as acting mayor of Danao, Cebu before he became the provincial governor of the then undivided Davao province.
Duterte then again fired back at Trillanes, saying he was just full or air and arrogance.
“Ikaw, anong naiwan sa iyo? Hangin pati yabang! Tulisan ka sa totoo lang,” the President said.
