P2.4-B in banks? VICIOUS ATTACKS ON DUTERTE LAST KICK OF A DYING HORSE

By Manny Piñol

At first glance, the allegations that leading presidential candidate Rody Duterte had P2.4-B stashed in bank accounts could be shocking.

Senator Antonio Trillanes’ “expose” is complete with transaction dates and amounts indicated up to the last decimal.

When I woke up this morning and saw the newspaper story about the alleged deposits, I immediately asked myself: “Has my friend taken me for a ride for so long?”

I know he is not that poor but why would he, in all of these years, live in that modest house in the GSIS-low-cost-housing project Doña Luisa if he had P2.4-B in the banks?

The guy is 71 years old. A few years from now, he will definitely say goodbye to this world as all of us would.

Who is he keeping the money for? Should he not even enjoy the simple luxuries of life and spend part of that money? It would have shown in his lifestyle.

But here is the catch: What could have been the source of the P2.4-B which Duterte allegedly keeps in his bank accounts?

The people of Davao City know that Duterte has been very strict when it comes to the expenditure of government funds.

I know of a lot of people who have fallen from the graces of the Mayor because of issues of money.

If this amount was earned from commissions in transactions from the Davao City government, say 10% commission, this would mean that there should have been a transaction or transactions worth at least P24-B.

Was there any transaction or transactions done by the City Government which could have allowed him to take a P2.4-B commission?

There should have been a smoke rising from somewhere.

Besides, even if it is proven that there are millions in Duterte’s bank, it has to be established that the money is the fruit of a corrupt act.

There has been no corruption allegations against him and no charges have ever been lodged against him in all of the 23 years that he has been Mayor of Davao City.

This brings us now to this shocking allegation by Trillanes.

It must be remembered that the thought of a Duterte presidency scares the Oligarchs, the super rich and the establishment.

This is a guy who wants to come to terms with the New People’s Army (NPA) which has been waging a 50-year-old insurgency in the country, a group which the administration said is enemy of the state and must be destroyed.

This is the man who says he would like to use the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) as the template for a devolution of power from the Central Government to the more autonomous Federal States to be established in the different regions of the country.

This is the maverick politician who threatens he will close Congress and declare a revolutionary government if his efforts to reform government is blocked by those who would like to hang on to status quo.

This is the hard-nosed leader who wants to reimpose the death penalty and promises to end crime, drugs and corruption during his term.

This is the pro-people leader who has promised to end contractualization and end the monopoly of the telecommunications industry by just a few corporations.

The super rich, the Oligarchs, to some extent even some of the Church leaders, the drug lords, the crime lords and the dirty politicians who have benefitted from corruption in government do not want this man to become President.

They have tried to scare the ordinary Filipino by saying that the peso sank, stock market is in jitters and that Filipinos abroad could lose jobs if Duterte becomes President.

They have accused him of involvement in drugs and of leading a crime group. Now, they want to hit him with an issue which would destroy his image of incorruptibility.

It is easy to come up with shocking revelations which could change people’s minds at the last minute.

They would like to sustain this attack until election day, never mind if the figures submitted were just fabricated. These could just be corrected later on.

What is important is that Duterte is stopped.

As things stand now, however, the masses appear to have decided to go for this man who talks the language of the poor and who carries the dreams of the neglected.

If at all, the vicious attacks against Duterte is just the last kick of a dying horse.