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President Duterte to allow peaceful demonstrations

September 16, 2017, 7:34 pm

MANILA -- President Rodrigo Duterte gave his word that he will allow the Reds and other organizations to hold peaceful demonstrations in public areas.

During an interview in Erwin Tulfo's "Sa Totoo Lang" program, aired via PTV 4 on Friday, 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 (who are sympathetic to you). I would urge it, that you do it para makita talaga natin ang mga naghihinanakit rin sa gobyerno (so we could meet those who harbor resentment toward the government),” 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, 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 (so no one would get hurt in case a demonstration turns into chaos. Work in government offices and classes could be suspended. Demonstrators can occupy all public places they want to occupy),” he added.

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. (No need for permits),” 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.

He, however, appealed to the protesters to remain peaceful and not to break the law.

Ito lang ang hinihingi ko sa inyo: Huwag ninyong gawain na magsira kayo, you vandalize, magsunog kayo ng mga ganun-ganun (This is all I ask of you: Do not vandalize properties or set things on fire),” 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.”

During the same interview, President Duterte said the bank accounts of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV abroad are allegedly maintained at a certain range “to avoid detection in terms of large amounts of money.”

He said the lawmaker has several currency accounts in Shanghai, Zurich, Geneva, and Singapore.

In addition, he said Trillanes has online savings accounts 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 the British Virgin Islands.

“Balances of these accounts are below 700, whereby most of the accounts are within the USD100,000 – USD300,000 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.”

According to Duterte, the US bank account in Zurich has a balance of USD75,000 and the DBS account in Singapore has a balance of USD193,000. (PND)

 

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