SAN JUAN CITY, Philippines — Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV disclosed on Friday that ₱96 million was withdrawn in a single day from a joint bank account belonging to former President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara Duterte.
Speaking at a press conference at Club Filipino in San Juan City, Trillanes detailed how ₱80 million of the total sum was subsequently used to purchase investment-linked insurance policies for the Duterte siblings in April 2014.
“Sasabihin ng mga supporters niya, ‘Ay maliit lang pala,’ Sino bang naliliitan sa ₱96 million?” Trillanes said.
The former lawmaker revealed the financial documents a day after he requested House prosecutors to remove him from their list of witnesses in the Vice President’s ongoing Senate impeachment trial to relieve the panel of political pressure.
Rather than waiting for the trial proceedings, Trillanes opted to directly present his findings to the public, laying out the transaction records and evidence he had originally prepared for the impeachment court.
Allegations regarding the Duterte family’s bank transactions first emerged during the 2016 presidential election campaign, when Trillanes accused then-Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of holding hundreds of millions of pesos in undeclared assets.