Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV testified before the House committee on justice that Vice President Sara Duterte and her family received hundreds of millions of pesos in checks from an alleged drug lord — allegations he said have now been confirmed by the country’s anti-money laundering authority after nearly a decade.
Trillanes, appearing at the second clarificatory hearing on the impeachment complaints against the Vice President, alleged that Sara Duterte, her father former President Rodrigo Duterte, her brothers Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, Rodrigo Duterte’s common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña, and their daughter Veronica “Kitty” Duterte received a combined P181.6 million in checks from a certain Samuel “Sammy” Uy — whom he identified as an alleged drug lord — between 2011 and 2013.
“It is my belief that all of this falls under the impeachable offenses of betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption and other high crimes as stated in our Constitution,” Trillanes told the committee.
He submitted an 11-page affidavit stating that as of April 2016, the Vice President held bank accounts totaling P111.63 million, jointly with her husband Manases Carpio and other family members. The Anti-Money Laundering Council separately reported that banks had flagged roughly P6.77 billion in transactions flowing through accounts held by Sara Duterte and Carpio.
AMLC executive director Ronel Buenaventura confirmed during the hearing that 18 transactions — chosen at random by Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima from a longer list cited by Trillanes — “are existing in our report” submitted to the committee. De Lima said she limited her spot-check to 18 given the sheer volume of entries on the list.
Trillanes called the AMLC confirmation a personal relief, but said his vindication was secondary to the broader harm he attributed to the Duterte family’s time in power.
“I’m relieved that now, finally, after 10 years, AMLC confirmed what I released to the people in 2016,” he said. “However, I am also sad that the people did not believe me when I first brought this out.”
“My personal vindication—that is insignificant because the Dutertes caused a huge damage to our nation,” he added. “So, even if I was proven correct later on, over the past 10 years so many grave things have occurred, so many people have died, have suffered and been robbed in our country.”
His affidavit also cited a 2016 admission by the elder Duterte of having bank accounts at BPI’s Julia Vargas Avenue branch in Pasig that were not declared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.
“Upon confirming that the documents I held were authentic, I decided to make the information public because I believed it was important for our fellow citizens to know the pretensions of the Duterte family—that their family is supposedly poor and lives simply—when in reality, Rodrigo Duterte and his family have joint bank accounts where billions of pesos have flowed,” Trillanes said in his affidavit.
On whether the Vice President’s loyalists would accept the AMLC’s findings, Trillanes was dismissive. “If her supporters are a cult, that’s their problem,” he said. “You know, Duterte has a cult following that even if she shoots someone on Edsa, they will still worship her. … I can’t do anything about that.”
He appealed for public trust in his disclosures, noting his history as an anti-corruption figure dating back to 2003, when he and fellow Magdalo officers staged a mutiny against then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo over corruption allegations. “This is my duty to the country. Since 2003, we have been doing this. We don’t make up stories,” he said.
Wednesday’s hearing pushed through despite an attempt by Sara Duterte’s husband to block disclosure of the family’s bank records. The Quezon City Regional Trial Court declined to issue any restraining order or injunction against the House or the committee. The Vice President has refused to appear at the hearings, and she and her allies have taken the impeachment proceedings to the Supreme Court.
The committee’s next hearing, set for April 29, will focus on evidence tied to alleged death threats made by the Vice President against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez.
