If this is to “make the issue land in the news,” it’s a “tragic waste of time,” Pimentel says
By Meanne Corvera
Eagle News Service
Senate President Koko Pimentel has denied Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s renewed bid to look into the “bank accounts” of President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Sara, a statement that did not suit well with the former Navy officer.
“The Senate is not the body for that. We are part of legislative action. But if this is part of just making this issue land in the news, then this should not be allowed. It will be a tragic waste of time by the Senate,” Pimentel said in a text message.
Pimentel noted that this was what Trillanes did to Paolo Duterte, the president’s son, and Mans Carpio, the president’s son-in-law.
“Now, it’s the same thing against other members of the Duterte family. If he really has the evidence, then he should bring an actual case in the proper body,” Pimentel said.
In a statement, Trillanes slammed Pimentel, saying it was the president “himself who challenged the Senate to investigate his bank account.”
“So, ito na ang sagot sa hamon ng amo niya…Masyado naman siyang ninenerbyos agad para sa amo niya,” Trillanes said of the Senate President.
According to Trillanes, his resolution that seeks for a probe into the president’s and his daughter’s “bank accounts” was “valid.”
“This would just be part of the oversight functions of the Senate. Senator Pimentel, even as Senate President, has no power to disallow its referral,” he said.
Trillanes filed the resolution seeking the probe on Monday.
The senator has been making the claims about what he said was the Duterte family’s ill-gotten wealth even before the 2016 elections, which the elder Duterte won by a landslide.