MANILA (The Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network) - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday (Sept 29) made fresh allegations against Senator Antonio Trillanes IV regarding his prominent critic's alleged bank accounts in Singapore.

Mr Trillanes had travelled to Singapore on Sept 19 to prove that he had no bank accounts in the city, in order to debunk the claims made by the President.

But Mr Duterte said Mr Trillanes was able to close his bank accounts in Singapore before the senator signed a waiver and flew to that country.

Mr Trillanes visited two banks in Singapore and inquired whether there were accounts under his name in the DBS Bank Alexandra branch and the HSBC Raffles branch.

"No such bank accounts exist," Mr Trillanes quoted the bank tellers as telling him when he showed his passport and his two bank accounts that allegedly contained millions.

But Mr Duterte claimed Mr Trillanes was able to close his bank accounts online at 10pm on Sept 8 before the visit.

"He terminated it online on September 8, 2017, past 10pm, then left for Singapore," he said in an interview with state-run PTV4 aired on Friday night.

But Mr Trillanes dismissed the allegation as a ploy to divert attention "from (Mr Duterte's) billion peso bank accounts that were confirmed by the Ombudsman."

"Nonetheless, first thing on Monday, I would sign waivers for these accounts so that the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) can look into and examine them," Mr Trillanes said.