Trillanes says Duterte, Honeylet got P181.6 million from ‘drug lord’

MANILA, Philippines —  Members of the Duterte family – from the former president down to his children – allegedly received drug money worth P181.6 million from a certain Sammy Uy, identified by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV as a drug lord.

Trillanes testified before the House committee on justice yesterday, which is conducting a clarificatory hearing as part of the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte.

In his sworn affidavit, Trillanes said the Duterte family encashed P181.6 million in checks allegedly tied to Uy, adding that these acts amount to impeachable offenses, including betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption and other high crimes.

Trillanes said the breakdown are as follows: Sara Zimmerman Duterte, P22.3 million; Rodrigo Roa Duterte, P15.6 million; Sebastian Duterte, P51.5 million; Paolo Duterte, P38.8 million; and Cielito S. Avanceña / Veronica Duterte, P53.2 million.

He said a separate annex attached to his affidavit summarized the bank transactions that reflected those payouts.

Trillanes also attempted to place Sammy Uy within a broader network by pointing to the businessman’s purported political and business links to former president Duterte and former Duterte economic adviser Michael Yang.

“Sammy Uy is a political contributor of Rodrigo Duterte and well-known business associate of Michael Yang, a former economic adviser of Rodrigo Duterte, who is also implicated in the controversial Pharmally and POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operators), including the billions worth of illegal drugs confiscated in a warehouse in a POGO compound in Porac, Pampanga,” Trillanes said.

He then cited the testimony of former SPO4 Arturo Lascañas to reinforce the alleged link between Sammy Uy and personalities previously tied to the drug trade in Davao City.

“Michael Yang and Sammy Uy are both named by SPO4 Arturo Lascañas as involved in the operation of laboratories of shabu in Davao City,” Trillanes said.

He added that the financial transactions involving Sara Duterte and her relatives were alarming because, in his view, they connected her to personalities he described as drug figures.

“It is not only a clear violation of the Constitution and other laws, but it also clearly placed doubts in her personal integrity and capability or moral capacity to continue serving as Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines,” Trillanes said.

To support his allegations, Trillanes said former president Duterte previously publicly admitted the existence of a bank account, which allegedly included undeclared assets.

“In 2016, Rodrigo Duterte himself admitted that it is true that he has bank accounts in BPI-Julia Vargas Avenue branch in Pasig, and second, he failed to declare the content of the said bank accounts in his SALN,” Trillanes said.

“This admission of Rodrigo Duterte happened after I challenged him to sign a waiver of secrecy of bank deposits,” he added.

Validated

Meanwhile, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) confirmed yesterday that 18 transactions randomly selected from Trillanes’ sworn statement annexes had matching or similar entries in AMLC records, including three transactions listed under alleged payouts by alleged drug lord Uy.

“Eighteen out of 18 transac- tions randomly selected from the annexes of Sinumpaang Sa- laysay (sworn affidavit) of Hon.

Trillanes were confirmed by the AMLC, at least to the ex- tent that similar transactions appear in their report,” Bata gas Rep. Gerville Luistro, chair of the House committee on justice, said.