The prosecution panel tried to ask the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) whether it maintains foreign accounts under Vice President Sara Duterte, but the Senate Impeachment Court blocked the inquiry as it is outside the subpoena’s scope.
During Wednesday’s resumption of Duterte’s impeachment trial, private prosecutor James Bryan Ibrahim Alih asked BPI Division Head Marwin Galvez whether Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, have foreign accounts with the bank.
However, Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero sustained the objection from respondent’s counsel, Michael Poa.
‘Sustained, not part of the subpoena issued by this court and covered by the FCDU law,’ Escudero said.
Escudero did not expound on what the FCDU law is, but it appears that he was referring to Republic Act No. 6426, or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act of the Philippines.
Section 8 of R.A. No. 6426, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1035 and Presidential Decree No. 1246, states that all foreign currency deposits ‘are hereby declared as and considered of an absolutely confidential nature.’
The same section noted that foreign currency deposits cannot be ‘examined, inquired or looked into by any person, government official, bureau or office whether judicial or administrative or legislative, or any other entity whether public or private,’ except if the depositor allows it.
Duterte is being tried before the Senate Impeachment Court over four main allegations: the alleged misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, alleged bribery, and alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family.
This week, the prosecution has presented evidence on Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which is about her alleged unexplained wealth and her supposed failure to disclose these in her SALNs.
Discussions have shifted to Duterte’s bank accounts after the prosecution’s witness, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura, testified on Monday that the council flagged several transactions involving Duterte and her relatives worth P4.4 billion.
At one point, Buenaventura testified that Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, had made P193 million worth of unique bank transactions in just one day, on March 28, 2014.
Later that day, Buenaventura testified that CALE88, the food company owned by Carpio that produces banana chips, got P319,326,770.41 from China, confirming the allegations made by former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV in a press conference last Friday.
Senator-judge Risa Hontiveros noted that her team studied the background of the two companies that transacted with CALE88 – China National Township Enterprises and the Beijing Jianweifang Food Company – revealing possible ties to the Chinese government.
Based on their research, Hontiveros said China National Township Enterprises used to be directly under China’s Ministry of Agriculture, being a state-owned agricultural enterprise.