Trillanes: I asked Luistro to drop me as witness in Duterte trial

MANILA, Philippines — Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV revealed that he asked lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro to remove his name from the list of witnesses to be presented by the prosecution panel in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.

In a statement on his Facebook page on Thursday, Trillanes said he asked Luistro to withdraw his name to relieve the prosecution panel of the “pressure it is going through.”

“Earlier in the day, I requested the House prosecution under Chair Jinky Luistro to formally withdraw my name as a witness for the prosecution. This way, the prosecution panel would be relieved from the pressure it is going through,” he said.

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“Having said that, I will hold a press conference tomorrow to present all the matters that I would have presented and released during the impeachment trial,” he added.

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Earlier, before the impeachment trial went on a lunch break, Luistro manifested before the Senate Impeachment Court that they had finally decided to refrain from presenting Trillanes as their witness for Article II of the Articles of Impeachment.

READ: Trillanes may be next witness in Duterte impeachment trial on Sept. 30

“The prosecution has finally decided not to present former Senator Sonny Trillanes. We seek the kind indulgence of the honorable impeachment court for the belated final decision on this particular concern,” Luistro said.

Article II contains allegations that Duterte has unexplained wealth and failed to declare this in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

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It is not clear what pressure Trillanes was referring to, but several netizens, including vlogger and lawyer Jesus Falcis, claimed that individuals opposed the former senator’s presentation.

Trillanes has been seen as a crucial witness in establishing a case under Article II, as he has claimed for several years that Duterte and members of her family, including her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, hid bank accounts not stated in her SALN.

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Last April 22, when the House of Representatives’ Committee on Justice held confirmatory hearings regarding the two impeachment complaints against Duterte, Trillanes was called as a resource person to shed light on his claims of hidden bank accounts.

Trillanes presented several bank accounts during the April 22 hearing. Later, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), through Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, confirmed that several financial transactions mentioned by Trillanes were the same fund movements that the agency had flagged or monitored.

The confirmation came after Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima randomly picked 18 financial transactions listed in Trillanes’ annexes and asked the AMLC to check if these were part of its investigation.

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

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

On Thursday, Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo urged the prosecution to be strategic in presenting its witnesses, suggesting that Trillanes be presented first before going to the AMLC executive director.

Tulfo said this as he scolded the prosecution for instances in which they failed to pique the curiosity of senator-judges, as they supposedly fielded witnesses unnecessary to Duterte’s impeachment trial.

When Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero said Flores would give the answer after lunch, Tulfo said he was raising the suggestion because the prosecution seemed to have stumbled several times in presenting witnesses.

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Trillanes was also seen at the Senate premises last Tuesday. When the prosecution presented Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte as a witness, Trillanes was present to monitor the proceedings. /mcm