Bank officials may testify at Sara Duterte impeachment trial —prosecutor

The House Prosecution Panel is considering presenting bank officials as witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

This was revealed today by Bukidnon Representative Jonathan Keith Flores, who will be one of the House prosecutors handling the articles of impeachment on the alleged misuse of confidential funds and unexplained wealth.

"Importante para ma-explain naman or mabigyan ng linaw ang mga transactions that were involved. So that's one of the siguro key issues doon sa second article [on alleged unexplained wealth]," Flores said in an interview.

(It's important to explain or bring clarity to the transactions that were involved. So that's one of the key issues in the second article.)

The bank officials are expected to shed light on the report submitted by the Anti-Money Laundering Council on reported and covered bank transactions.

The House has impeached Duterte on four Articles:

Article 1: systematic misuse, misappropriation, and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to P500 million released to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P112.5 million released to the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as Education chief

Article 2: amassing unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings during her incumbency as a public official; failure to fully and truthfully disclose all her and her spouse's assets, liabilities, and net worth in her statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN), including in her SALN for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024; failure to divest, and instead, willfully continued, all her business interests during her tenure as vice president for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025

Article 3: giving monetary gifts or payments to DepEd officials to induce the violation and circumvention of procurement and other related laws

Article 4: contracting for the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and the former Speaker of the House and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, by making grave threats, and by actively inciting sedition against the republic.

The members of the House prosecution panel will tackle each article in groups:

Bank officials, COA

When asked if the personnel are from the bank mentioned during the House Committee on Justice hearing, Flores declined to reply.

The legislator from the second district of Bukidnon also confirmed that the Commission on Audit will also be presented as witnesses.

"Mostly 'yun naman, yung nasa lista. Kasi di ba, that was one that was covered also by the Committee on Good Government the previous year, previous Congress investigation. So parang ganoon pa rin yung covered people," Flores said.

As for Ramil Madriaga, who claimed to be Duterte's former aide and alleged bagman, Flores said that he is still being evaluated as a potential witness.

"They're still evaluating yung affidavit niya and paano siya siguro ma-link doon sa other witnesses and evidence na nakuha na," Flores said.

(They're still evaluating his affidavit and how he can be linked to the other witnesses and evidence.)

When asked if Madriaga's credibility was an issue, Flores replied "So far, okay naman."

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV is also being considered as a witness in the Senate impeachment trial for the article on alleged unexplained wealth of the vice president.

"Hindi naman automatic na na-present ka in the Committee on Justice, automatic is witness ka na rin dito sa impeachment complaint. Of course, titingnan namin kung how important is the testimony or yung anong mai-present mo to help the article, to prove that specific article," Flores explained.

(It's not automatic that if you were presented at the Committee on Justice [hearing], you will become a witness at the impeachment [trial]. Of course, we will evaluate how important the testimony or what they can present to prove that specific article.)

"We're still working on it on some of the articles. Pero karamihan ay okay na. But yung iba, siguro may kino-consider pa na additional witness sa ibang articles," he added.

(Most are already okay. In some of them additional witnesses are still being considered.)

Flores also does not see the Senate leadership issue as a cause of delay for the impeachment trial.

"I don't think it will necessarily lead to any delay because I think they're all in agreement naman na ano yung definition ng forthwith. So lumabas na rin sa Supreme Court and they already parang convened the impeachment court. So wala na akong ibang reason na makita that could affect the schedule siguro na, so far, has been set by the Senate," he said.

The House Prosecution Panel is still awaiting the Vice President's reply to the Articles of Impeachment.

Duterte has 10 days from her receipt of the writ of summons on May 20.

After this, the House Prosecution Panel has five days to reply. — BM, GMA News