Duterte admits: I invented Trillanes’ Singapore bank account number

The chief executive laughed on Trillanes’ move of flying to Singapore and said that he is just tricking the senator. RICHARD MADELO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Duterte admitted that he invented the alleged Singapore bank account number of Trillanes which he revealed last September 15 in an interview.

“Binasa ko, binawasan ko ng number. Wala ito, imbento lang (I read it and I removed some numbers. This is nothing, I just invented it),” Duterte said during his PTV interview with Erwin Tulfo on Tuesday.

The chief executive laughed on Trillanes’ move of flying to Singapore and said that he is just tricking the senator.

Earlier, the president revealed that Trillanes has several offshore bank accounts, particularly account number “178000296012” at DBS bank in Singapore that has a balance of 193,000.

However, Duterte said that the correct account number was “1178000281602” which was reposted by Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson and Tulfo.

The President added that according to the foreign government, Trillanes kept flying back and forth to Singapore.

“Actually September pa Trillanes pabalik-balik kana sa Singapore banks, yung ibang bank account mo sa Hongkong kinlose mo [Actually since September, you’ve been flying back and forth to Singapore, you closed your other bank accounts in Hongkong],” he said.

Meanwhile, Trillanes belied the accusations of Duterte about his alleged ill-gotten wealth by flying to Singapore on Monday to prove that there are no bank accounts in his and his fathers’ name in the said Singaporean bank.

“Pusoy ka na, Duterte. Nagsisinungaling ka. Yung certification, sinabi sa akin ng bank manager na di sila makakapagbigay dahil di ako kliyente o naging kliyente [You’re caught, Duterte. You’re lying. The bank manager said that they couldn’t give a certification because I am not their client and never was],” Trillanes said.

[Read: Trillanes flies to Singapore claims, no offshore accounts]

In the latter part of his interview, he said that he would soon reveal the other bank account numbers of Trillanes.

Duterte’s own internal logic

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella when asked about the President’s credibility, assured the public that Duterte has sources and it was part of his game plan to bait Trillanes.

“May kanya-kanya pong style [To each his own style]. As we very well know, the President is quite unorthodox and out of the box when he deals,” Abella said.

“Ang pinag-uusapan po natin siguro yung context nung pagkakasabi niya [We are talking about the context of his statement], you need to see it as a whole as a way he’s presenting, not as we see things but as a whole, you need to see the larger picture,” he added