One of the country’s conglomerates San Miguel Corporation made an official statement and denied giving P500 million to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, saying the check, a photo which is making the rounds online for the past few hours is indeed fake. SMC noted that the allegations against the company is nothing more than a fabrication and a blatant disinformation.
San Miguel released the following statement: “This is nothing more than a fabrication and a blatant disinformation. SMC does not have an account in the said bank branch and has never issued such check to Sen. Trillanes,” SMC said in a statement.
The controversial photo of the check which bears the name of Sen. Antonio Trillanes and San Miguel Corporation went viral on social media after it was posted on Facebook by a certain Facebook user “Antonio Tamarkis.” The photo posted online showing the supposed Banco de Oro check worth P500 million issued by SMC to Sen. Trillanes.
The viral FB post accused Sen. Trillanes of being paid by SMC to lead a smear campaign against Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for the benefit of presidential race contender Senator Grace Poe who was overtaken by the Davao City mayor in the latest presidential preference survey conducted nationwide.
Sen. Trillanes earlier aired his support to the candidacy of Sen. Grace Poe and based upon various accusations against the senator, Sen. Trillanes and Sen. Grace Poe are being accused of having ties with SMC chairman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco.
In its statement, SMC said BDO itself has ”attested in the attached certification that it does not have any record of any account maintained by SMC with the bank’s Tandang Sora branch and that the alleged account number 001168795215 ‘does not exist in the Bank’s system and records.”’
”Having said that, we denounce, in the strongest terms, this apparent effort to deceive the public and drag our company’s good name in current political issues,” SMC said.
”As a responsible corporate citizen, we enforce a strict code of ethics that ensures The Company does the right thing and that it safeguards the long-term interest of its customers and stakeholders.”
Here’s the Controversial Viral Post: