JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday said the government has started looking into the alleged offshore bank accounts of officials belonging to the opposition.
This came days after Senator Antonio Trillanes IV challenged President Rodrigo Duterte to sign the bank secrecy waiver to disprove the allegations that he had amassed billions worth of ill-gotten wealth.
Aguirre refused to comment further on the issue but said that these accounts the government is looking into are found in banks in Switzerland, Malaysia, and Australia.
"This is an ongoing investigation, I'm sorry, I could not tell you but many in the opposition... we have dug these bank accounts of opposition personalities," Aguirre said.
Trillanes previously signed a bank secrecy waiver, allowing the Anti-Money Laundering Council to check on his alleged foreign accounts after he was accused by the president of owning dirty money in different parts of the country, including Singapore.
The accounts were later found to be non-existent.
According to the DBS Bank Alexandra Branch and the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Raffles, the bank accounts given by Trillanes do not exist.
The said banks also failed to release a certification saying the bank accounts do not exist as Trillanes is not their client.
Debunking the President's claim, the senator said, this proves that the Duterte is a liar.
Duterte, whom earlier said he only invented the senator's bank accounts last Friday, told the public a new story. He said Trillanes was able to close his accounts online before heading to Singapore last September 19. (SunStar Philippines)