Inday Espina-Varona

When Sen. Antonio Trillanes first came out with his barrage of charges against Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, calls flew for the leading presidential candidate to sign a waiver.Duterte, after all, had dared rivals to sign waivers on their bank accounts. He had his public ceremony with running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.He also actually had a <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/04/27/16/opinion-time-for-duterte-to-play-the-hero">waiver</a> tacked into his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Work (SALN). Like other politicians who earlier signed waivers, it was addressed to the Ombudsman, the proper body that investigates alleged graft by government officials.Duterte hemmed and hawwed, joked and mocked. His campaign team seemed unwieldy and prone to contradictory statements. That gave critics more opportunities to make him out like a clone of Vice President Jejomar Binay, who faces plunder charges.A number of Duterte supporters who believe his pledge to wipe off corruption – he calls this the root of criminality – wobbled at the charge that some P211 million flowed in and out of one account.But Trillanes, a failed mutineer who’s never been able to learn when enough is enough, kept on yakking.He threatened Cayetano, turning a serious issue into a playground brawl. He kept on throwing charge after charge. He insisted only Duterte had to show proof – which showed he has as much contempt as Duterte has for legal niceties. He boasted that he got his information because of his position in the Senate.Like every entitled would-be hero, he actually <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/28/16/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-bank-secrecy-law">believed</a> his claim of righteousness could let him sweep aside ethics and due process.And then Trillanes had the temerity to talk about impeachment.That I word caused many of those who had started to balk, and who were urging Duterte to sign a waiver, to turn around and stalk to his side once more. And there they have stayed.There is overreach and hubris. Duterte has that in plenty, too.There is overreach and hubris and incompetence and carelessness. All four make for a deadly combination.Duterte called Trillanes’ bluff.After the noisy stand-off by their supporters today at the BPI Julia Vargas branch, Trillanes stalked off.Trillanes went to media and claimed Duterte did not sign a waiver. That he was a coward and that it proved his charges false.He wasn’t being truthful.Duterte’s lawyer, Sal Panelo, arrived with a Special Power of Attorney.The SPA asks not just for the account balance. It also asks the bank to show &quot;the fact that at no time since the opening of the account was there a deposit either singly or collective of P211-M.People can quibble on the wording. Some say it could be a way out, since if the transactions are less or more than P211 million, it could forestall a detailed revelation. Some say it’s was more than enough.Panelo emerged from the bank, saying it was BPI that wanted time to study the request.The bank cited necessary protocol. They asked for seven days. I presume that means seven working days. That means any new information that comes out will be after the May 9 elections.The fact is, Duterte answered the challenge. The SPA is a waiver for that contentious account. The existence of the account doesn’t mean anything. The contents of that account do.The bank&#x27;s request for time has nothing to do with how Panelo feels about the affidavit. The bank&#x27;s request for time was addressed to him.You can&#x27;t blame that on Duterte. You can’t call that stalling.Trillanes can always ask, why didn’t Duterte appear?He didn&#x27;t have to. He signed a document that allowed for a peek – more than a peek – into his bank account.Trillanes has other accusations, course.But he’s also tarnished the credibility of those charges with a major error of fact, assigning to Duterte a property owned by an innocent dentist. He also gave some wrong computations on the accounts.Now he spouts <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/halalan2016/nation/04/29/16/duterte-accounts-had-p24-b-in-transactions-trillanes">talks of billions</a>.Wait a minute, dude. There&#x27;s no proving that. Yet.On the main point, where you demanded a waiver, Duterte upped the ante.You flubbed it. As Dean Bacobo, who has no love for Duterte, laments, “where were the lawyers”?That doesn&#x27;t make me like Duterte any better. But there it is.It now all depends on the voters. Trillanes didn’t do anyone a favor here. Not his patrons. Not even himself. He might have just given Duterte the right stage to unleash his theatrics.You want to yell impeachment? Go ahead, make their day.

There is overreach and hubris and incompetence and carelessness. All four make for a deadly combination.

OPINION: Duterte calls Trillanes' bluff

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OPINION: Duterte calls Trillanes' bluff

Inday Espina-Varona

Published May 02, 2016 08:55 PM PHT

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