No concealed wealth, says Philippines’ president

DAVAO, Philippines — The Philippine president says he became a millionaire at a young age from an inheritance and reiterated he has no unexplained wealth as alleged by his leading critic, who questioned his claim that he was born into an impoverished family.

President Rodrigo Duterte gave some details of his personal assets at a dinner with journalists Friday in his southern home city of Davao, repeating a pledge to immediately resign if anybody can prove that he has questionable wealth concealed in bank accounts. Duterte said his parents owned land in Davao where a profitable ice plant stood, and that he and his siblings divided the family assets and sold the landholdings after his father, a former Davao provincial governor, died in 1968.

“When we divided, we had our first millions already,” Duterte said.

Duterte mentioned a local bank, now closed, where he said he had cash deposits years ago, adding that his critics could still check the records of that bank. “If you want to really to trace my money, start from there,” he said.

Opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has accused Duterte of concealing more than $39 million in undeclared bank accounts when he served as a top Davao city official, contradicting, the senator said, the president’s claim that he came from an impoverished family.