Trillanes off witness list in VP trial, cites ‘pressure’ on team

MANILA, Philippines — Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, an arch-critic of the Dutertes, said on Thursday that he would no longer testify against Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment trial to relieve the prosecution panel of the pressure it was under.

Lead House prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro announced in open court that the prosecution decided not to present Trillanes as a witness on the charge of alleged unexplained wealth against the Vice President. She did not give a reason.

Trillanes said in a statement on Thursday that he had asked the prosecutors to withdraw him as a witness.

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“This way, the prosecution panel would be relieved from the pressure it is going through,” he said, without elaborating.

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READ: Trillanes to reveal Friday (Oct. 2) contents of supposed trial testimony

Instead of testifying, Trillanes said he would hold a press conference on Friday to present “everything that I would have disclosed in the impeachment trial.”

Trillanes was previously included in the prosecution’s list of witnesses for Article 2 of the four articles of impeachment—the allegation that Duterte had unexplained wealth which she did not declare in her statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN).

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

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The prosecution had considered the testimony of Trillanes to be crucial in establishing a case for Article 2, as he had been claiming for years that Duterte and members of her family—including her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte—had hidden bank accounts.

On April 22, when the House committee on justice held confirmatory hearings regarding the two impeachment complaints against Duterte, Trillanes was called as a resource person and he presented some bank accounts of the Vice President.

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In his 11-page affidavit, Trillanes told lawmakers that the Vice President had accounts totaling P111.63 million as of April 2016, jointly with her husband Manases Carpio and members of her family.

Trillanes also alleged that members of the Duterte family received money from alleged drug lord Sammy Uy. The Vice President, the former President, her brothers Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, and her father’s common-law wife, Honeylet Avanceña, and their daughter Veronica “Kitty” Duterte, received P181.6 million in checks from Uy from 2011 to 2013, the former senator claimed.

18 transactions

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), through Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, confirmed that several bank transactions cited by Trillanes were among the fund movements that they have flagged or monitored.

The confirmation came after Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima asked the AMLC to check whether 18 transactions listed by Trillanes, which she had randomly picked, were part of their investigation.

Buenaventura confirmed that all 18 selected transactions in the annexes presented by Trillanes matched the AMLC’s records.

During the April 22 justice committee hearing, Buenaventura said that given the limited information the AMLC had at the time, he could not confirm the nature of one of the transactions that were randomly picked, but could only confirm that there was “a movement of funds.”

He said that on Dec. 9, 2014, the AMLC records showed a transaction amounting to P16,852,832.94. This matched one of the 18 picked randomly by De Lima.

Buenaventura told the justice committee that they found 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.

Prosecutors scolded

During the start of Thursday’s court session, before Luistro announced the withdrawal of Trillanes as a witness, Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo asked the prosecution, particularly House prosecutor and Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores, when they would present the former senator.

When Flores said that they would announce the order of presentation of witnesses after the Senate impeachment court goes on a lunch recess, Tulfo told him that it would be “much better” for the prosecution to present Trillanes ahead of the AMLC executive director as it is the AMLC that would confirm the former senator’s allegations.

Tulfo said this as he scolded prosecutors for instances, which he did not specify, when they supposedly presented unnecessary witnesses.

“Because sometimes, the prosecution—I’m sorry—you fail in your presentation. There were times that you called witnesses that were not really needed. You are just wasting time,” he said, adding that several senators became sleepy or excused themselves “because listening seems to be useless.”

“When you invite a witness, make sure that witness will have something to say that would help the investigation in this impeachment [trial],” Tulfo said.

Trillanes was in the Senate gallery monitoring the proceedings on Tuesday when the Davao City mayor, the younger brother of the Vice President, testified as a hostile witness for the prosecution.

House prosecutor and Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon, coleader of the prosecution team handling Article 2, manifested in open court on Tuesday that Trillanes would still testify. He said Trillanes would be presented before the testimony of an official of the Land Registration Authority and the AMLC executive director.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, Ridon said that the prosecution still planned to present the former senator but the order of presentation remains in question after impeachment court presiding officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero suggested that Trillanes be put on the witness stand after the testimony of the AMLC representative.

Ridon told reporters that they were seriously considering Escudero’s suggestion.

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He said the reason they wanted to call Trillanes to testify ahead of the AMLC was for the former senator to speak on matters that were not discussed during the hearings of the House justice committee when it discussed the two impeachment complaints against Duterte. —With a report from Inquirer Research