Impeachment trial: Baste Duterte, Trillanes prosecution’s next witnesses

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s brother, Davao Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, along with former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, will be among the prosecution’s next set of witnesses for the impeachment trial.

Counsel for the prosecution Benjamin Tolosa Jr. confirmed in a press briefing on Friday that after Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) Division Chief Rendell Sopeña, they will present Duterte, and a representative of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

After this, the prosecution will call Trillanes, a staunch critic of the Dutertes.

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READ: Trillanes vindicated: AMLC confirms Sara Duterte’s 18 transactions 

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“Next week, so inaasahan ho natin magpapatuloy na po ‘yong cross-examination ng representative from PhilGEPS, pagkatapos ho d‘yan ang inaasahan ho nating na susunod na testigo ay si Davao Mayor Baste Duterte.  Nakatanggap na ho siya no’ng subpoena last week, so inaasahan ho natin na siya’y tatalima dito subpoena at makikita natin siyang umupo bilang testigo next week,” Tolosa said.

(Next week, we expect that the cross-examination of the PhilGEPS representative will continue, and after that the next witness we expect to present is Davao Mayor Baste Duterte.  He received a subpoena last week, so we expect that he will comply with this subpoena and we can see him sit as a witness next week.)

“Naka-indicate din ho doon sa aming manifestation na isinumite sa impeachment court na tatawagin din ang mga witness galing sa PhilHealth Regional Office XI, si former Senator Sonny Trillanes.  Alam namin maraming nag-aabang sa kanyang magiging testimonya,” he added.

(Also indicated in our manifestation submitted to the impeachment court that we will call witnesses from the PhilHealth Regional Office XI, and former Senator Sonny Trillanes.  We know that many expect what his testimony will be.)

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After these witnesses, Tolosa said that they will seek a representative from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Firearms and Explosives Office, and Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Ronel Buenaventura.

“So inaanyayahan ho namin na pakinggan ho natin itong mga importanteng maging testimonya na maririnig natin dito sa mga testigo na ‘to,” he added.

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(So we urge the public to listen to the important testimonies that we will hear from these witnesses.)

During the April 22 hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on justice on the two impeachment complaints against Duterte, Trillanes was called as a resource person, as he has claimed several times in the past that the vice president and his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, had bank accounts hidden from the public.

Trillanes presented several bank accounts during the April 22 hearing.  Later on, AMLC through Buenaventura confirmed that several financial transactions mentioned by Trillanes were the same fund movements that they have flagged or monitored.

The confirmation came after Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima — who was eventually named as part of the prosecution panel — randomly picked 18 financial transactions listed in Trillanes’ annexes and asked AMLC to check if this was part of their investigation.

Eventually, Buenaventura confirmed that 18 out of 18 randomly-picked transactions in Trillanes’ annexes matched the AMLC’s records.

READ: AMLC confirms suspicious transactions made by Sara Duterte, kin 

But prior to this confirmation from AMLC, Buenaventura also told the committee  that they found covered and suspicious transactions made by Duterte and her relatives amounting to P6.7 billion.

This includes a total of P4.4 billion in inflows and P1.5 billion worth of outflows.

Buenaventura clarified that covered transactions are bank transactions over P500,000, which banks report to the council.  Suspicious transactions, meanwhile, refer to those whose amounts are not determined, but were reported by banks because there is something questionable in terms of how funds were sourced.

The prosecution considers Trillanes and Buenaventura’s testimonies as crucial to the discussions on Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, or allegations that the vice president has unexplained wealth not declared in her State of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

So far, the prosecution has presented four witnesses for Article II: Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, Office of the Ombudsman Central Records Division officer-in-charge Atty. Karen Batu, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director Gerardo del Rosario, and Sopeña.

Cabotaje-Tang testified about public accountability laws and different terms used — like the meaning and difference between hidden wealth, unexplained wealth, and ill-gotten wealth.

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Batu, meanwhile, was quizzed about the authenticity of the vice president’s SALNs from 2007.  Del Rosario on the other hand was tasked to testify about Duterte’s business interests. /mr