DAVAO City Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Z. Duterte on Monday submitted a sworn statement to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), denying cash delivery allegations and contesting the agency’s authority to investigate him.
His counsel, Peter Paul L. Danao, filed the affidavit on Mr. Duterte’s behalf, through a special appearance before the bureau, while raising a jurisdictional challenge on the NBI’s authority under existing laws to conduct the probe.
In a statement, Mr. Danao said an affidavit ad cautelam, or a precautionary sworn statement, places the lawmaker’s denial on record without waiving his legal objections.
Mr. Danao described the allegations of Rodulfo M. Gracioso, Jr., a dismissed police officer who claims to have served as a security aide to former House Speaker Lord Allan Q. Velasco, as “fairy tale concoctions.”
Mr. Gracioso earlier claimed that, under Mr. Velasco’s instructions, he delivered suitcases of cash to the Duterte family, including an alleged P100 million for the congressman.
Mr. Velasco’s camp has denied allegations calling them fabricated. The Vice-President has also submitted a counter-affidavit last week.
The NBI is conducting a fact-finding investigation and has invited Mr. Duterte to appear on Monday.
Mr. Danao urged NBI investigators to independently assess the jurisdictional challenge and the allegations, guided by law and evidence.
“We trust that the women and men of the NBI involved in this investigation shall uphold the Bureau’s ideals of nobility, bravery and integrity in their independent evaluation and assessment of the issues we raised,” he said. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking