Trillanes to issue bank waiver today.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is expected to issue today bank waivers and ask the Ombudsman, journalists and a representative from Malacañang to accompany him to banks abroad to prove that President Duterte’s allegation that the senator has foreign bank accounts is “fabricated.”

Trillanes said he does not own a single offshore account and could no longer remember exactly how to personally open a bank account as the last time he did so was before he was jailed for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny.

“But don’t take my word for it. I’ll be signing waivers for the Ombudsman and the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council),” Trillanes told dzBB yesterday.

“I will also take it a step further: I will invite the fact-finding team of the Ombudsman, and if the media will join us, we’ll go to one bank abroad they’ve (Duterte’s camp) identified and walk in so right there we’ll find out if there’s such an account of mine,” he said.

The bank waivers are expected to be sent to the Office of Ombudsman and AMLC today and Trillanes will hold a press conference once the waivers are officially received.

Trillanes said he will do everything to prove his innocence from the latest allegations of Duterte and to show to the public that the President “is a liar and using his position and power in government to discredit and harass the political opposition.”

He also dared Malacañang to ask the international money laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force to search for his foreign bank accounts.

He said investigators can also try making deposits in his alleged accounts to test if they exist.

Duterte on Saturday claimed that Trillanes, one of his toughest critics, has 16 secret bank accounts in Hong Kong, Australia and the US.

The senator said the allegations were fabricated as the supposed bank records were first bared in social media accounts and “fake news sites.”

Trillanes said if the allegations were true, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II would have been all over the news announcing moves to file corruption charges against him.

Trillanes also said that his actions were in stark contrast to the reactions of Duterte and members of his family when he first bared their bank records before the elections last year showing that billions of pesos passed through their accounts.

“They don’t want to sign waivers. As for me, I’ve nothing to hide and I want my name to be cleared,” Trillanes said.

He reiterated that the billions that the Dutertes have in their accounts were proceeds from illegal activities like drug trafficking and smuggling.

‘Triad allegation vs Paolo accurate’

Trillanes also said that he saw the President’s eldest son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, “tremble in fear” when he dared him last week to take off his shirt to show his tattoo to disprove allegations that he was a member of the Chinese triad.

Trillanes maintained that the “intelligence information” that he has about the younger Duterte’s membership in the criminal syndicate was “accurate” but refused to divulge his source.

He said when he asked the younger Duterte in the hearing of the Blue Ribbon committee into the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of drugs from China last Thursday that he can show his tattoo in private so that a picture can be taken of it and verified by the US Drug Enforcement Agency, “I really heard his chest pounding.”

“I accused Paolo Duterte before the nation that he was

a member of the triad but did he deny that on record?” Trillanes told dzBB.

“He forgot the basic thing – to deny his membership with the triad when he was there (at the hearing). He couldn’t deny it because his gang members might get back at him,” he added.

During the hearing, Trillanes alleged that Duterte had a colored tattoo of a dragon with “sacred digits” that marked him as a triad member.

The younger Duterte flatly denied the senator’s request and invoked his right to privacy.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson then asked Trillanes if he was willing to disclose his source that the latter claimed was from a “foreign government.” Trillanes said he was willing to disclose his source in an executive session.

But yesterday Trillanes said he would “not fall into the trap” of disclosing his source.

He also said he believes the younger Duterte was in the drug watch list of the Interpol and other foreign law enforcement agencies because of the information relayed to him.

Trillanes also pointed to his presentation during the hearing of pictures of Duterte and two Chinese businessmen linked to the drug shipment and smuggling, namely Kenneth Dong and Charlie Tan.

Senate ethics panel to discuss complaints

Meanwhile, the Senate committee on ethics will be meeting behind closed doors today to discuss pending complaints against senators, including the one filed by Sen. Richard Gordon against Trillanes over his conduct during the Blue Ribbon committee inquiry into the smuggling of drugs from China.

Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee, and Trillanes had a heated argument last Aug. 31 after Trillanes accused panel members of “lawyering” for Vice Mayor Duterte and presidential son-in-law Manases Carpio, who were tagged in the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu.

In past hearings of the panel, Trillanes said the younger Duterte and Carpio – husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte – were leaders of the “Davao group,” which abets smuggling at the Bureau of Customs that led to the entry of some 604 kilos of shabu last May.

Gordon said Trillanes’ outburst was “unparliamentary” and an insult to the chamber. Last week, Gordon formally filed a complaint against Trillanes.

“The complaint against the continuous, unabated, unparliamentary acts, language, and conduct of Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV, which is causing damage to the Senate and the people and therefore, is of primordial concern,” Gordon said in his prefatory statement.

He said the complaint was “about maintaining the dignity of the Senate because all senators owe the public a public institution that, among others, deserves their respect.”

Gordon said it was about time Trillanes be taught a lesson as he had previous run-ins with other senators or has called his colleagues names. Gordon said Trillanes would apologize but later commit the same acts against fellow senators.

Trillanes yesterday reiterated his vow to file his own complaint against Gordon in the coming days.

“I trust the wisdom and good judgment of my fellow senators. My fate is in their hands. I think they know me more than what Gordon says about me or what comes out in the media,” Trillanes told dzBB.

He maintained he did not do anything unparliamentary even as he mocked Gordon for unfamiliarity with Senate rules despite being a lawyer.