NUEVA ECIJA, Philippines – Vice President Jejomar Binay called on Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to sign a waiver allowing the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to investigate his bank accounts.

“Mayor Duterte, pabago-bago ka ng kuwan e. Pirmahan mo na ‘yung waiver sa AMLC para matapos na tayo (Mayor Duterte, you keep on changing your mind. Sign the waiver for the AMLC to put an end to all this),” Binay said in an interview with reporters here on Friday, April 29.

Binay was referring to the general waiver he asked all presidential candidates to sign allowing the AMLC to probe their bank accounts as well as those owned by their relatives and close associates. He initially made the challenge at the Cebu presidential debate in March and reiterated it before the last presidential debate in Pangasinan on April 24.

Binay repeated the challenge following the revelation of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV that Duterte allegedly has 17 bank accounts in 3 banks through which P2.4 billion worth of transactions were made.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a vice presidential bet, alleged that Duterte’s joint account with daughter Sara Duterte contained P227 million in 2014 but this amount is not declared in the mayor’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN). (READ: Trillanes to Duterte: Stop doing a Binay, sign waiver)

Duterte, who is leading presidential surveys, initially dismissed Trillanes’ allegations as “garbage.”  The tough-talking mayor then said on Friday that he had instructed his lawyer to open his account in the Bank of the Philippine Islands Julia Vargas branch in front of Trillanes on May 2 – on the condition that the senator would execute an affidavit on his allegation.

Trillanes had earier rejected the condition, saying he had to protect his informants. He said he would drop out of the presidential race and immediately resign from the Senate, where his term ends in 2019, if proven wrong.

Fickle-minded

Binay is not buying it Duterte’s pronouncement that he would open his BPI account to scrutiny.

“Pabago-bago ang isip niyan. Nung pinagmalaki niyang nagandahan siya sa Australian missionary, tinanggi niya. Si Duterte talagang pang-sound bite lamang ‘yun,” said the Vice President.

(He changes his mind. He denied that he found the Australian missionary who was raped to be beautiful and joked about it. Duterte only does it for the sound bites.)

He has been publicly criticizing Duterte over his lofty promise to suppress crime within 3 to 6 months as well as his flip-flopping apology over joking about the rape-slay of Australian lay missionary Jacqueline Hamill in 1989.

Binay is no stranger to accusations made by Trillanes, who was among the senators who investigated the allegations of corruption and unexplained wealth against the Vice President when he was Makati mayor.

The Vice President had repeatedly said that the Senate probe was a mere attempt to derail his presidential bid.

Should people should listen to Trillanes’ allegations against Duterte? He cited the vice presidential candidate’s single digit ratings in pre-election surveys to respond to this.

“Bakit siya pakikinggan ng tao e 1% sa survey. Paano siya mapapakingggan ng tao (Why would people listen to him when he only gets 1% in surveys)?” he said. 

In December 2015, the AMLC filed a civil forfeiture case against the Vice Binay, his family, and alleged accomplices in public fund laundering.

This was after an earlier freeze order on 242 bank accounts and investments of the Vice President, his family, and his alleged dummies, had lapsed. – Rappler.com