He’s very much consistent in being inconsistent.
Administration lawmakers expressed bewilderment at how former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has been so vocal and crystal clear in his pronouncements made before the House Quad Comm, only to backtrack them later on at will.
House Assistant Majority Leader Zia Alonto Adiong of Lanao del Sur wanted to be doubly accurate. He heard it right when the former Davao City mayor assured his colleague, Quad Comm senior vice chairman Romeo Acop of Antipolo, that he would sign the absolute bank waiver at first instance, without any conditions.
“So, is it now the committee’s understanding that when Chairman Acop asked the former President that the President be willing to sign any waiver, would that be safe to assume, Mr. Chair, that that would be ‘conditional,” Adiong clarified.
According to Adiong, he made this assumption based on the assumption that “when the former President right away answered the question of Acop, I presume that it was actually in the affirmative and it was actually in all candidness and honesty.”
Rep. Gerville Luistro of Batangas’ second district – a lawyer by profession – likewise noticed the “inconsistencies” in the testimony of the former Davao City mayor, who, unfortunately, is also a member of the Bar, and was a prosecutor for nine years in his province.
“The President made his testimonies inconsistent. I don’t know why,” she said in a TV interview.
Initially, Duterte was very straightforward in his statements. “I’ll sign the waiver tomorrow (Nov. 14),” he initially offered. When Adiong first mentioned “waiver” in his interpellation, he immediately replied: “The waiver? Yes”.
“I’m willing to execute an affidavit to summon the bank under my waiver. If there is an iota of truth, I will ask my daughter and all family members to resign. I will also hang myself in front of you,” Duterte declared.
He left a caveat, though, most likely because his arch critic, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV (who exposed his alleged P2.4 billion accounts, joint with his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, and others), was seated two chairs away from him.
“But Trillanes should also hang himself too,” Duterte taunted, this time with a specific condition.
And he went even further, invoking the conjugal nature of his financial transactions.
“Please give me one purpose. Why should I produce it? My problem is that that bank account is joint with my wife. So, I cannot waive her right to secrecy. I have no problem with that. The problem is that it is a joint account,” Duterte insisted.
“So, I have to ask my wife to appear here and if she is ready to waive the bank secrecy law,” he added. “The problem is: What is the purpose of this investigation? Am I under investigation? Why are you asking for my bank accounts? What is my purpose here?”
“I don’t want you (congressmen) to make a suspicion. So, if not in public, I’ll give you a copy and show you a copy on the condition that it sticks with you. The problem is that it is a joint account; at the back of my mind, How about my wife?” he asked.
“I’m sure you (lawmakers) have a wife and bank accounts. It’s always when you have a wife, it’s a joint account – that is the Filipino way of doing it,” Duterte justified further.
However, Trillanes, who knows all the details of the accounts like the back of his hand, refuted the former president’s alibis. “Just for the record, the joint account is between Duterte and VP Sara Duterte – not the wife. Those are the bank records that are in our custody.”
“Just like I anticipated earlier, he’s been saying he is willing to sign a waiver. At the same time, it’s always a bluff. aHe’s saying he will slap me first before signing the waiver. I will agree, provided he should first sign the bank waiver,” the former military officer insisted.