Lead public prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro has announced that former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV will no longer be presented as witness by the prosecution panel for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
During the trial on Thursday, Luistro informed the Senate impeachment court that they have finally decided to refrain from presenting Trillanes.
‘The prosecution has finally decided not to present former Senator Sonny Trillanes. We seek the kind indulgence of the honorable impeachment court for the belated final decision on this particular concern,’ Luistro said.
Trillanes was previously included in the prosecution’s list of witnesses, set to testify for Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, or the allegation that Duterte has unexplained wealth and failed to declare this in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
The testimony of Trillanes was initially considered by the prosecution to be crucial in establishing a case for Article II, as he had been claiming for several years now that Duterte and members of her family – including her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte – had hidden bank accounts not stated in her SALN.
Last April 22, when the House of Representatives’ committee on justice held confirmatory hearings regarding the two impeachment complaints against Duterte, Trillanes was called as a resource person, to shed light on his claims of hidden bank accounts.
Trillanes presented several bank accounts during the April 22 hearing. Later on, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) through Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura confirmed that several financial transactions mentioned by Trillanes were the same fund movements that they have flagged or monitored.
The confirmation came after Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima randomly picked 18 financial transactions listed in Trillanes’ annexes and asked AMLC to check if this was part of their investigation.
Eventually, Buenaventura confirmed that 18 out of 18 randomly picked transactions in Trillanes’ annexes matched the AMLC’s records.
On Thursday, Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo even urged the prosecution to be strategic in presenting their witnesses, suggesting that Trillanes be presented first before going to the AMLC executive director.
Tulfo said this as he scolded the prosecution for instances where they failed to pique the curiosity of senator-judges, as they supposedly fielded witnesses unnecessary to Duterte’s impeachment trial.
When Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero said Flores would give the answer after lunch, Tulfo said he was raising the suggestion because the prosecution seemed to have stumbled several times in presenting witnesses.
Trillanes was also seen at the Senate premises during the impeachment trial. Last Tuesday, when the prosecution presented Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte as a witness, Trillanes was present to monitor the proceedings.
Last Tuesday, when Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte was presented as a witness by the prosecution, Trillanes was present to monitor the proceedings