President Rodrigo Roa Duterte gave his word that he will allow the Reds and other organizations to hold peaceful demonstrations in public areas.
During his interview with Erwin Tulfo’s “Sa Totoo Lang” aired via PTV 4 on Friday, September 15, the President relayed his thoughts on the day of the protest.
“You promised to bring all the Lumads from the mountains na sympathetic sa inyo. I would urge it, that you do it para makita talaga natin ang mga naghihinakit rin sa gobyerno,” the President said, referring to the statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to bring Lumads to their demonstration.
“So if it’s a massive demonstration, at this early, I am announcing that I am ordering a holiday para walang masaktan, walang ano kung may demonstration diyan, magkagulo. Walang trabaho ang gobyerno ‘yang araw na ‘yan at ang klase suspended. At lahat ng public places dito na gusto ninyong i-occupy, kunin ninyo,” he added.
President Duterte assured that he would assign a lean number of policemen who will only be assigned to maintain traffic.
“As a matter of fact, I’m giving you all the space, all the streets. Wala nang permit-permit. Sige, bahala kayo,” he said, noting that the right for redress of grievance, the right to free expression, and the right to free speech are guaranteed under the Constitution.
The Chief Executive, however, appealed to the protesters to remain peaceful and not to break the law.
“Ito lang ang hinihingi ko sa iyo: Huwag ninyong gawain na magsira kayo, you vandalize, magsunog kayo ng mga ganun-ganun,” he said.
“If you remain peaceful, I can assure you, no military or policeman other than the traffic cops will show their face there to threaten you,” the President said.
During the same interview, President Duterte said bank accounts of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV abroad are maintained at a certain range “to avoid detection in terms of large amounts of money.”
According to the President, the lawmaker has several currency accounts in Shanghai, Zurich, Geneva, and Singapore.
In addition, he said Trillanes has online savings account in ANZ and ABN AMRO in Shanghai.
The President said all foreign accounts of the senator are flagged as having international transactions.
He said Trillanes has four savings accounts in Cayman Islands, which were opened online, and four accounts in British Virgin Islands.
“Balances of these accounts are below 700, whereby most of the accounts are within the USD 100,000 – 300,000 range to avoid detection in terms of large amounts of money,” he said.
“Our providers suggested that before closing his Zurich bank account and Singapore bank account — since all of these accounts are single accounts without co-depositor — additionally the information that we provided has existing slips as evidence of these two accounts and were acknowledged to be in existence,” the President said.
According to Duterte, the U.S. bank account in Zurich has a balance of $75,000 and the DBS account in Singapore has a balance of 193,000. ###PND
