Tito Sotto floats 'Tinikling' scheme using manager's checks

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Senator-Judge Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Wednesday floated a supposed scheme wherein manager’s checks that are unutilized or have become stale are being returned to the issuing bank, possibly to avoid audits.

This was revealed on the Day 35 of the impeachment trial, where witnesses from banks and financial firms were presented by the House prosecution panel to testify on Article 2 of the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, alleging her unexplained wealth.

“I’d just like to ask if you’re familiar with the term used by my banker friend, who told me that ‘yun daw pag-issue ng manager’s check, pagkatapos hindi ginamit, later on after the 31st of December, ibabalik, ang tawag daw do’n ‘Tinikling,’” Sotto asked Marwin Galvez, division head for Central Manila branches of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI).

(I’d just like to ask if you’re familiar with the term used by my banker friend, who told me that the practice of issuing a manager’s check, when it’s unused and is returned later after December 31st, is called Tinikling?)

“Gano’n daw ang ginagawa nung mga ibang umiiwas,” he added.

(That’s supposedly what some people do to evade something.)

The bank official said that he is not familiar with the term.

“Alam ko lang po ‘yung sayaw na Tinikling, Your Honor,” Galvez expressed.

(I only know the Tinikling dance, Your Honor.)

During the direct examination of Galvez, the prosecution flagged a P41.7 million worth of manager’s check linked to former president Rodrigo Duterte and VP Sara Duterte that was supposedly “floating” for years and was not being reflected in year-end balances.

Galvez confirmed the existence of such a joint peso time deposit opened on January 22, 2010, in the bank’s Julia Vargas Branch under the name “Rodrigo Roa Duterte or Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Sara Z. Duterte,” with a principal amount of P40,650,000.

He said that the time deposit had 12 rollover periods or renewals. At the last renewal in February 2011, he said the amount already increased to P41.7 million, including the interest.

In March 2011, the BPI official said a credit and debit memo showed that a manager’s check was purchased for P41.7 million. The manager’s check, however, remained unutilized after the validity period of six months.

Private prosecutor James Bryan Alih said that the prosecution intended to prove a "pattern," that a transaction in 2011 moved around for several more years and was later on used to purchase insurance policies.

“Ang punto lang naman po eventually is that ‘yung manager’s check na pinapaikot, hindi nakikita sa year-end balance kasi naka-float ‘yung pera na ‘yun. ‘Yun lang naman ‘yung gusto naming i-establish as a baseline,” Alih said.

(The only point is that the manager's check that is being circulated is not reflected in the year-end balance because the money is already floating. That's all we want to establish as a baseline.) — RSJ, GMA News

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