By Zaldy De Layola
MANILA – Former Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV’s testimony on Vice President Sara Duterte’s alleged hidden bank transactions gained credibility after the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) confirmed that 19 of his entries matched its own records on the same dates and amounts.
Justice committee chairperson Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro of Batangas clarified Thursday that the AMLC had stated for the record that 19 of the 71 entries Trillanes presented on Duterte’s bank transactions were “completely similar” to the council’s observations.
“Well, in addition dun sa ginamit nila (to what they used), explosive, vindicating on the part of Senator Sonny Trillanes, I wish to add, this is confirmatory also to the allegations in the two impeachment complaints,” Luistro said in a televised interview.
“Sa pamamagitan ng mga evidence na lumabas kahapon (Through the evidence that came out Wednesday), at least for the majority of the justice members, napatunayan nila na may basis ang allegations sa (it was proven that there’s basis for the) impeachment complaint,” she added.
Luistro recalled that Trillanes’ claims about joint accounts held between Sara Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, containing millions in transactions that was never reflected in their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), were first aired during the House Quad Comm hearings in the 19th Congress.
It was only at the Justice committee’s April 22 impeachment hearing, however, that the information Trillanes had presented “was given credence,” she noted.
“That is because of the confirmation of the Anti-Money Laundering Council that the transactions randomly chosen by Congresswoman Leila de Lima are very much similar to the transaction appearing in the report,” Luistro added.
She emphasized that the AMLC’s confirmation of the bank transactions Trillanes presented on the vice president and her family is one of the findings that matters most to the committee.
That confirmation, she said, only deepens her curiosity about the remaining 52 transactions the council could still verify.
“Now, I’m wondering, paano kaya ‘yung ibang transactions? Paano kaya kung inisa-isa ni Cong. Leila de Lima lahat ng mga alleged transactions dun sa affidavit ni (how about the other transactions? What if Cong. Leila de Lima enumerated all the alleged transactions in the affidavit of) Senator Trillanes? And, what is really surprising there, even the transactions of the alleged drug lord, Sammy Uy,” Luistro said.
“They are part of those transactions, ‘yung na-deposit kay (the deposits for) Vice President Duterte. They were part of the transactions which were confirmed by AMLC as completely similar to those appearing in their report,” she added.
According to Trillanes, the documents he received on the Dutertes’ bank records show PHP2.3 billion in cash flows across Sara Duterte and Rodrigo Duterte’s joint accounts, as well as PHP181 million the Duterte family allegedly received from drug lord Samuel “Sammy” Uy.
Of that amount, Trillanes claimed Sara Duterte allegedly received PHP22.32 million from 2011 to 2013, during her tenure as Davao City mayor.
Some of the entries that the AMLC confirmed were the Vice President had similar transactions in its records including PHP16.85 million dated Dec. 9, 2014; PHP41.72 million on March 28, 2014; and PHP10.37 million on Feb. 4, 2010. (PNA)
