Former president Rodrigo Duterte (left), former senator Antonio Trillanes IV (Facebook)

In another one of his signature outrageous statements, former president Rodrigo Duterte told the House quad-committee (quad-comm) on Wednesday night, Nov. 13 that he's willing to "hang himself" and ask his daughter, Sara Duterte, to step down as Vice President. 

The condition? He said he would do these if former senator Antonio Trillanes IV's allegations of him and his family members receiving P2.4 billion in alleged "drug proceeds" would get proven. 

The elder Duterte and Trillanes both served as resource persons during the quad-comm's marathon hearing Wednesday on the former president's aggressive anti-narcotics campaign. 

"Your honor, if there is an iota of truth. Iota lang. Maski konti lang (Only an iota. Even just a little). You can find out," he told the special four-way panel. 

"Now, I'm willing to execute an affdavIt o kayo na lang to summon the banks pursuant to my waiver kung may totoo lang maski isa, I will hang myself in front of you," he said.

(I'm willing to execute an affdavIt or you do it to summon the banks pursuant to my waiver and even if only one is true, I will hang myself in front of you.)

"You can summon. I will sign a waiver. All banks. Pati yung World Bank ng Amerika (Even the World Bank in Amerika).

"Kung may isang totoo lang na katiting (If there is one little truth to it), I will resign and I will ask my daughter to resign and everybody in the family. That is my guarantee. And I will hang myself," said visibly irked former leader. 

Vice President Duterte was present during the hearing as a spectator. The elder Duterte's two sons--Paolo "Pulong" Duterte and Sebaatian "Baste" Duterte--hold the positions of Davao City 1st district congressman and Davao City mayor, respectively. 

In the hearing, Trillanes--a known critic of the Dutertes--presented slides that he claimed showed "money and paper trail of drug proceeds of [Rodrigo] Duterte and his family".

"Nakalap ko po ito noong 2016, tapos ito po ay na-validate na ng Ombudsman, na kaparehas nga nung naisumite ng AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) sa kanila. Kaya kumpyansa po tayo sa provenance nitong dokumentong ito," he told the quad-comm. 

(I gathered these in 2016, and these have been validated by the Ombudsman as the same as the ones sent to them by the AMLC. That's why I'm confident about these documents' provenance.)

Trillanes alleged that the ex-president set up a bank account with Vice President Duterte wherein drug proceeds flowed into.

"Ang mga total po ng mga credits na pumasok ay P2.4 billion. Ngayon kung ano talaga yung actual total ay malalaman po natin kapag binuksan po natin yung account," said the ex-senator. 

(The total credits that were received was P2.4 billion. Now, as to how much is the actual total, we will only find that out if we open up the bank accounts.)

Since there is a bank secrecy law, a waiver would be needed for this to happen.

Manager's checks 

Another slide showed by Trillanes indicted a list of alleged manager's check encashments from the period of October 2011 to April 2013. The checks were allegedly named to the ex-president's children Sara, Pulong, Baste; and his partner, Honeylet Avancen̈a. 

"Ito pong mga ito ay mga manager's check under their name na ang origin po ng account ay yun isa dun sa mga drug lords na minention ni [Arturo] Lascan̈as na si Sammy Uy," Trillanes said.

(These were the manager's checks under their name, the origin account of which belonged to Sammy Uy, one of the drugs lords mentioned by Lascan̈as.)

Lascan̈as is an alleged former hitman of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) who is now helping in the effort to prosecute the elder Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his bloody drug war.

Ex-president Duterte said he would press charges against Trillanes for claiming that he received drug proceeds or drug money. He also told the quad-comm that anything coming from Lascan̈as shouldn't be believed.

A near scuffle took place between Trillanes and Duterte after the former taunted the former leader during the hearing.

Duterte attempted to use his microphone to hit Trillanes, who was seated three chairs away from him. But cooler heads prevailed. 

Duterte also apologized to the quad-comm for his actions. 

Former president Rodrigo Duterte (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Condition to sign waiver

Ex-president Duterte would later give a condition before signing any waiver on his bank secrecy rights: he said that everyone in the quad-comm should also do the same.

"Lahat, hindi lang ako...Lahat, as in lahat...lahat ng gusto kong ituro dyan, pati yung nakaupo dun sa harap ko," he said.

(Everybody, not just me...everybody, as in everybody...everybody that I would point to, even those sitting in front of me.)

"Bakit ako lang? Para makita talaga ng tao. Oh, ayan ang pera ko...yung inyo? (Why should I do it alone? Let show it to the people. Oh, here's my money...what about yours?)" said the former chief executive.

Asked if he felt he was "inapi" or oppressed during the hearing, the 79-year-old said, "Sanay na ako (I'm used to it)."