Take note that in the statements of Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, they were not denying the contents of their bank accounts cited by VERA Files in its special report about the President and his daughter’s undeclared wealth.
They dismissed the story as “hearsay” because they said the bank records, where we based the report, have not been authenticated by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Last Sunday, VERA Files, which I am part of, released its analysis of the bank documents which Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV exposed in April 2016 comparing them with the Duterte father and daughter statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.
This is what VERA Files found out:
Duterte and Sara omitted to fully disclose their joint deposits and investments at the Bank of Philippine Islands, which conservatively exceeded P100 million in some years, when they were mayor and vice mayor of Davao City.
According to the bank records, Duterte and Sara’s transactions with BPI, initially its Greenhills-EDSA branch and later the Julia Vargas branch, included:
• A P48.17 million placement in 2006 that grew to P55.13 million by 2013
• A P40.55 million investment in 2009 that stood at P41.72 million in 2013
• About $220,000, roughly P10 million, from 2006 to 2012
• The purchase of P80 million in insurance policies in 2014
• A P16.85 million investment begun in 2014.
Our analysis shows that the amounts Duterte and Sara listed in their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) as cash on hand (COH), cash in bank (CIB) and investments for these years are nowhere near the combined value of their bank transactions as reflected in bank records submitted to the Senate.
Duterte only listed from P6.07 million to P13.85 million a year in cash. He began declaring investments only in 2008, at first P3.65 million and later P3.8 million a year starting in 2011.
Sara’s cash declarations ranged from P2 million to P4.32 million a year from 2007 to 2012. She reported annual investments of from P1.93 million to P2.67 from 2008 to 2012.
What this means: Based on the documents, father and daughter failed to declare from P44.25 million to as much as P85.73 million a year from 2006 to 2014.
For example, when 2011 ended, Duterte and his daughter still had three joint investments totaling P106.58 million, including a dollar placement, according to the bank records. But Duterte only declared P14.96 million in both cash and investments that year and Sara, P6.6 million—a shortfall of P85.03 million.
VERA Files’ special report is a bit long and I request those who are concerned about this country and the quality of our leadership to take time to read and understand it.
VERA Files obtained the documents legally. Trillanes’ documents are part of the Senate records. We filed on Oct. 23 an official request with the Office of the Senate Secretary for a copy and was referred to the senator’s office. The document was released to VERA Files on Dec. 4.
We looked up the Anti-Money Laundering Act and consulted bankers on the transaction codes and other features of the documents. The codes are what the AMLC requires banks to use when they report to it “covered” transactions, or those exceeding P500,000 within a banking day.
The Office of the Ombudsman said in late September that a copy of the bank records it obtained from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) “more or less” resembles what Trillanes submitted in his complaint.
Although the AMLC denied being the source of Trillanes’ records and providing the Ombudsman any such report, a source who has knowledge of Trillanes’ and the Ombudsman’s documents told VERA Files that the bank entries found in these records are accurate.
Duterte has been flip-flopping on the existence of the bank accounts and their contents. When it was first exposed by Trillanes on April 27, 2016, Duterte, then a presidential candidate, dismissed it as “garbage” and a “fabrication.”
The next day my friend deposited P500 to the published BPI account and it was accepted. Later that day Duterte admitted the existence of the published bank account.
On Sept. 18, Duterte admitted co-owning a bank account with Sara but said it only held P500,000.
On Sept. 30, he said his bank deposits “won’t go beyond P40 million,” or what he called his “life’s savings.” He told soldiers a few days later to “shoot” or “overthrow” him if he had more than the amount.
More important than the existence of huge sums of money in their bank accounts is their non-inclusion of a large part of it in their SALN.
Republic Act No. 6713, which sets a code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees, imposes a range of punishment from fine to dismissal to imprisonment.
You can read the whole report at VERA Files website (http:verafiles.org). Be empowered with correct information
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