Escudero: President Duterte may not be summoned if hearing on his “bank accounts” pushes through

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, however, may be asked to attend, Escudero says

(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte may not be asked to attend  a hearing on his “bank accounts” if that pushes through, Senator Francis Escudero said on Monday.

Escudero, chair of the the Senate committee on banks, financial Institutions and currencies, said this was because compelling a President to do the same could result in a “constitutional crisis.”

According to Escudero, the president’s daughter, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte_Carpio, could, however, be summoned.

“Dapat bigyan ng pagkakataong marinig ang lahat lalo na kung nababanggit ang pangalan o dinudungisan ang pangalan ng sinuman o inaakusahan ang sinuman,” Escudero said.

On Monday, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV filed a resolution calling for a probe into what he said were Duterte’s and Duterte-Carpio’s ill-gotten wealth, an allegation he made even before the 2016 elections.

The Dutertes have already vehemently denied the allegations.

In a statement on Monday, Duterte-Carpio noted Trillanes’ admission that the Anti-Money Laundering Council was the source of his documents.

“..And yet he twits President Duterte for not executing a waiver for AMLC. So how come he has a copy of a purported AMLC document without the waiver?” she said.

“I have said this before and I am saying it again – Trillanes is lying. He has the penchant for parading his star witnesses in the Senate and yet he cannot even produce Joseph De Mesa, who, according to his affidavit, was his source of information,” Duterte-Carpio said.