Palace dares Sereno, PCIJ to file charges vs Duterte over ill-gotten wealth claims
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2019 08:40:58 +0000
MALACAÑANG on Tuesday dared critics to file charges against President Rodrigo Duterte over his family’s supposed increased wealth.
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo made the statement after former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said Duterte must explain the significant increases in his family’s earnings instead of saying it was nobody’s business.
“If PCIJ (Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism) and Sereno believe that the increases are ill-gotten wealth, they should file the appropriate charges,” Panelo said in a statement.
Panelo, who is also Duterte’s chief legal counsel, insisted that the President followed the law on filing his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).
“The law requires public officials to file their SALN. PRRD (President Duterte) already did that. The law does not require the filer to explain the increases in their income, if there are,” he said.
In its report released on Thursday, the PCIJ noted that the President, his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, and his eldest son former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte “have all consistently grown richer over the years, even on the modest salaries they have received for various public posts, and despite the negligible retained earnings reflected in the financial statements of the companies they own or co-own.”
Sara is seeking reelection as Davao City mayor while Paolo is running as the city’s first district representative.
The PCIJ noted that across the 10-year period from 2007, the President wealth nearly tripled, his son Paolo’s more than tripled and Sara’s grew more than six times.
Over the weekend, the President said that what his family earned outside of politics was nobody’s business.
“What we earned outside is none of your business, actually. Yung may mga negosyo kami, may mga law office kami (That we have businesses and law firms), what a goddamn s–t,” the President said on Saturday night.
“You know, you have to have a law office because there is an election every three years. And it’s so short. Eh, kung matalo ka ngayong eleksyon na ito (What if you lose this election), where would you go?” he said. CATHERINE S. VALENTE
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