A Philippine senator filed a corruption complaint on Thursday alleging that the front-runner in the country’s presidential race, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, hired 11,000 non-existent employees whose salaries cost the government 708 million pesos ($15 million) in 2014.
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In his latest controversial remark, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte told reporters his administration would be an all-inclusive one in which communist guerrillas could take part in decision-making.
“He’s trying to pin me down in between the winning and the proclamation”, Duterte said.
Instead, he said the bank management asked that it be given seven days to release details of Duterte’s accounts.
A large throng of journalists, TV cameramen and photographers stood outside the bank to await the outcome of the meeting between Trillanes and Duterte lawyer Salvador Panelo.
He said he complied with Durerte’s demand to execute an affidavit that named his informant as a Joseph de Mesa whom he said got hold of the mayor’s secret bank accounts through “a close relative who was working with an agency involved in investigating ill-gotten wealth of government officials”.
Trillanes called Duterte a coward for failing to issue a waiver to open of his bank accounts.
The senator also accused Duterte, the perceived front runner in the presidential race, of not declaring P211 million in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
“Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you, because we’ve been fooled before”, said Senator Trillanes, who is running for vice-president.
Duterte supporters made deposits that ranged from P5 up at the BPI 17th Street Branch in Bacolod City where they were seen lining up yesterday morning, Akol said at a press conference in Bacolod.
The tough-talking Duterte has led voter preference polls ahead of the May 9 presidential election on a promise to eradicate crime and corruption in the country within six months if he triumphs.
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The maverick mayor of the southern city is leading the “Gulp Poll” conducted by convenience store chain 7-Eleven, which has asked customers at their 1,650 outlets across the country to pick soda cups with images of their favourite presidential candidate.
