Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Welcomes Ombudsman Probe Into Family’s Wealth

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio welcomes the move of the Ombudsman to probe into their family’s wealth.

“I welcome it so that we can finally answer all accusations in the proper venue,” Mayor Duterte-Carpio said in a statement Thursday, September 28.

This statement was released days after the Ombudsman revealed that they will act on the complaint of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and will be looking into President Rodrigo Duterte’s wealth.

Last Wednesday, Malacañang said it respects the Office of the Ombudsman’s probe into the supposed ill-gotten wealth of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family.

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the executive branch was confident that the Ombudsman would conduct an impartial investigation on President Duterte’s reported multi-billion peso net worth.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales has ordered Overall Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang to look into the allegation of Senator Trillanes that President Duterte and his family had amassed billions of pesos through illegal activities.

Based on report from a news website, Carandang said the complaint filed by Senator Trillanes has sufficient basis for the Office of the Ombudsman to start its probe on the alleged multi-billion-peso wealth of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family.

Carandang said he has already requested the Anti-Money Laundering Council for a final validation on the bank transaction records of the first family.

He added that initial bank records show the flow of money through deposits and withdrawals from President Duterte’s sons, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo and Sebastian, and his joint accounts with his daughter Sara.

Carandang said the accounts of President Duterte’s common-law wife, Honeylet Avancena, and their daughter, Kitty, were also included in the records obtained by the Ombudsman.

He also said the same complaint of Senator Trillanes was sufficient enough for the AMLC to conduct an inquiry on the bank accounts of President Duterte’s family.

Senator Trillanes, a staunch critic of President Duterte, has repeatedly accused the President and his family of pocketing money collected from illegal activities and funneling it into several bank accounts.

The senator has alleged that President Duterte had bank transactions amounting to P2.4 billion from 2006 to 2015.

He has also divulged that President Duterte failed to declare in his 2014 Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth the P211 million purportedly deposited in the Bank of the Philippine Island-Julia Vargas branch in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

The President has repeatedly denied Senator Trillanes’ allegations and in turn accused the senator of owning several offshore bank accounts.

“Based on credible sources, as early as April last year, the Office of the Ombudsman has received official AMLC documents showing flagged transactions in President Duterte’s various bank accounts which totals more than 2 billion pesos in deposits and credits,” Senator Trillanes said.

Morales had earlier said she will inhibit from any case involving President Duterte since Sara’s husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, is her nephew.

Source: SunStar Philippines