MANILA—The camp of PDP-LABAN standard Rodrigo Duterte urged loyal supporters to donate to their “Piso Para sa Pagbabago” in an effort to counter allegations that the former has more than Php200 million in one bank account and an estimated Php2 billion in others.
PDP-LABAN spokesperson Atty. Paola Alvarez said the gathered funds would be used purely for charitable projects.
With the theme “Ipanalo ang Pagbabago,” the campaign seeks to raise funds for Duterte’s charitable projects in Davao City and elsewhere in the country.
“In the last presidential debate, Duterte replied to a query as to where his campaign funds are coming from and he said, ‘Emilio Aguinaldo.’ That’s his way of saying that it is the support of the masses with five-peso coins that is keeping him going,” Alvarez said.
“We are now making an appeal for people to show their support for Duterte by donating money to a fund to be used exclusively for charity. This will also demonstrate to everyone that the allegations of hidden wealth against Mayor Duterte are baseless and unfounded, and that we rely solely on the support of ordinary people and those who want real change in our country,” she added.
As this develops, Alvarez said Trillanes’ baseless allegations were dismissed by the statement made by Ayala Corporation managing director and chief financial officer Jose Teodoro Limcaoco.
Ayala Corporation is the sole owner of BPI.
“Our internal investigation reveals that there has been no such breach. “I don’t know where Sen. Trillanes got his information, but the graphic posted by the (Philippine Daily Inquirer) showing alleged credits, that is not a BPI document,” Limcaoco’s statement said.
“The deposit slip shown by Mar (Roxas) or the Inquirer is not a unique thing. All banks will show the name of the depositor on a deposit slip.” “We are committed to protecting client trust and preserving the trust bestowed on us by our clients all these years,” he added.
“The BPI official statement belies the claim of Senator Trillanes that Mayor Duterte has a big deposit at BPI amounting to Php211 million,” Alvarez said.
And since Trillanes used false information in making the allegation that Duterte did not declare the purported bank deposit in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, then the senator should apologized for peddling a big fat lie to the Filipino people, she added.