Suspected drug lord Samuel ‘Sammy’ Uy was among the payees of manager’s checks presented during Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Wednesday.
The House prosecution panel bared this during the 35th day of the trial, when it presented manager’s checks supposedly sourced from a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) account jointly held by the vice president and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
A manager’s check refers to a check purchased by an account holder from a bank. Once purchased, the bank itself assumes the obligation to pay the amount stated on the check, making it as good as cash.
In presenting these checks, the prosecution attempted to show a pattern of concealment involving around P96 million in funds, particularly by using the method to move large sums of money out of their account to prevent them from appearing in their year-end balance.
Among the manager’s checks presented was Check No. 20536 dated May 30, 2016, amounting to P16,852,782.94. The payee for this specific check was Uy.
‘Sir, to complete the P96 million, who was the payee of this P16 million?’ private prosecutor James Bryan Ibrahim Alih asked BPI Central Metro Manila Branches division head Marwin Galvez, who testified for the bank.
‘Based on the records we submitted, Your Honor, the payee of the manager’s check dated May 30, 2016, is Samuel C. Uy,’ Galvez said.
Uy is a businessman in Davao and was a major campaign donor of former President Duterte.
Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV alleged that the Dutertes received payouts from Uy, whom he accused of being an alleged drug lord.
Trillanes also said that the vice president, her father, her brothers Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, 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.