The House prosecution in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial is considering seeking financial records involving Tapang at Malasakit Alliance for the Philippines after Senator-Judge Bam Aquino raised possible donations from China on Tuesday.
Aquino asked House prosecution counsel Mae Divinagracia whether prosecutors would move to obtain the group’s records after the issue surfaced during the proceedings.
‘We are considering it, Your Honor,’ Divinagracia replied.
According to a prosecution statement on Tuesday, Tapang at Malasakit, which was led by Duterte when she was Davao City mayor, received a P150-million donation from the Chinese government in 2018 for the construction of 13 school buildings in Davao City.
In a news conference last week, former Sen. Antonio ‘Sonny’ Trillanes IV called renewed attention to the donation as he presented documents on China-linked funds involving entities linked with the vice president and her husband, lawyer Manases ‘Manases’ Carpio.
Ronel Buenaventura, executive director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) secretariat, told the impeachment court Tuesday that records involving Tapang at Malasakit were not among those covered by the subpoena issued to AMLC.
Aquino raised the matter after referring to a news report discussed during the proceedings concerning China’s denial that it had provided money to a Philippine political group.
The exchange came after Senator-Judge Risa Hontiveros questioned Buenaventura about links between Chinese state-owned enterprises and companies that sent P319.33 million to CALE88 Foods Corp., a company linked to Carpio.
Buenaventura said he could not say whether AMLC was investigating the Chinese companies, but told Hontiveros the council would take note of the information she raised.
The prosecution is presenting financial evidence for the second impeachment article, which accuses Duterte of unexplained wealth and discrepancies in her financial and business disclosures.