MANILA, Philippines. Following the face-off between Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s legal counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo at Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI) Julia Vargas branch on Monday, May 2, several celebrities have decided to speak up on the issue of the presidential aspirant’s alleged hidden wealth.
Robin Padilla, a vocal supporter of the tough-talking mayor from Davao City, showed up at the face-off in protest of the “political hack job” against Duterte. In his interview with the media, Padilla said he would withdraw all his money from BPI.
“Dapat si Sen. Trillanes, sinasabi niyang isang senador, hindi niya dapat sinasabi na walang rule of law… Magwiwithdraw muna ako,” Padilla said.
(Sen. Trillanes, who says he is a senator, shouldn’t say that there is no rule of law. I will withdraw my money first.)
Other celebrities like Richard Poon, Cesar Montano, Arnell Ignacio, Aiza Seguerra, Liza Diño, and Mocha Uson also took to social media to defend the PDP-Laban standard bearer.
Singer Richard Poon wrote on his Facebook account:
[facebook https://www.facebook.com/rpmusic/posts/10156806323660175]
“Naiintindihan ko siya kung kailangan niyang magbayad ng bills niya every month, kaya niya ginagawa ‘yan para pagkakitaan,” Montano said.
(I understand that he needs to pay the bills every month, that’s why he’s doing this to make money.)
TV host and comedian Arnell Ignacio also came to Duterte’s defense and shared two videos of himself standing outside a BPI branch.
“Anyway, maganda naman yung sinasabi mo na meron kang mga imbestigasyon, pero sana mag-issue ka ng affidavit para legal ang lahat,” Ignacio addressed Trillanes.
( It’s good that you said that you are conducting investigations but I hope you would issue an affidavit to legalize everything.
[facebook https://www.facebook.com/arnell.a.ignacio/videos/10208335336093541]
[facebook https://www.facebook.com/arnell.a.ignacio/videos/10208335390174893]
Singer Aiza Seguerra and entertainer Mocha Uson posted a photo of Duterte’s statement against Trillanes on their respective Instagram accounts.
Desperado moves! Watch out #traPoe Trillanes! #Duterte2016 #dutertecayetano
A photo posted by mochauson (@mochauson) on Apr 28, 2016 at 1:51pm PDT
In a lengthy Facebook post, Seguerra’s wife Liza Diño slammed Trillanes for accusing Duterte of having undeclared millions in his SALN.
[facebook https://www.facebook.com/lizadino/posts/10153810683544335]
But the frontrunner in presidential surveys didn’t escape criticisms from celebrities supporting other candidates.
In his Twitter post, Jim Paredes urged his followers to “switch to Mar”.
Duterte is a fraud. 41 houses. Billions in accounts. Liar. Collecting campaign funds from the poor. SWITCH TO MAR.
— Jim (@Jimparedes) April 30, 2016
Aurora Pijuan, former Miss International title holder and supporter of the Roxas-Robredo tandem wrote:
ah, poor! poor man!! ” now i can dispose of the mosquitero and go back to my air-conditioned room” P#*& In@#@#% https://t.co/yVoYg83xgH
— Aurora Pijuan (@aupijuan) April 29, 2016
Meanwhile, singer Leah Navarro challenged Duterte to sign the bank secrecy waiver.
Ay naku, Duterte. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop fooling around. SIGN THE WAIVER pic.twitter.com/4XPHIHtjVw
— Leah Navarro (@leahnavarro) April 30, 2016