Sara Duterte trial recap, Oct. 1: Trillanes out, AMLC witness moved

MANILA, Philippines — The impeachment court on Thursday, October 1, lost most of what was slated to be a pivotal stretch of testimony after prosecutors dropped former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and the anti-money laundering witness was moved to next week.

Prosecutors had lined up both witnesses for Thursday and Friday under Article II, which mainly accuses Vice President Sara Duterte of unexplained wealth and failing to divest from business interests. 

After much ado, it turns out Trillanes would not be taking the stand after all. Lead prosecutor Rep. Jinky Luistro told the court today that the panel "has finally decided not to present" the former senator. 

That came two days after prosecutors sought to put him on the stand ahead of their other witnesses, and a day after House prosecutor Rep. Terry Ridon said Trillanes's testimony would reveal weighty matters that "go beyond" the vice president's bank accounts.

The court also granted the defense's request to postpone the presentation of AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura to Monday so it could have more time to prepare. 

In the end, a day meant for a full slate of hearings produced testimony from just two witnesses, the registers of deeds of Davao City and Samal. 

They identified land titles, deeds of sale and tax declarations for properties registered to Carpio. Both said repeatedly that their role is ministerial and that they could not say whether the properties matched entries in Duterte's SALNs. 

Here are the three highlights from today's proceedings. 

Luistro announced the decision to skip Trillanes while submitting the prosecution's revised order of witnesses. 

"We seek the kind indulgence of the honorable impeachment court for the belated final position on this particular concern," Luistro said, without giving a reason.

When lead defense counsel Sheila Sison asked whether Trillanes was being removed from the list for good or only deferred, Luistro said the prosecution "will no longer be presenting the former senator."

The move capped a week of back-and-forth over Trillanes. On Tuesday, the court declined to subpoena the former senator, saying bank records or an AMLC witness should come before him, though it said the prosecution could still call him voluntarily. 

In an attempt to drum up excitement for Trillanes' presentation, the prosecution said in a Tuesday press briefing that the information Trillanes had in store for the court would "draw attention." 

In April, Trillanes claimed before the House justice committee that Duterte and members of her immediate family received millions from an alleged drug lord. Duterte has denied the allegation.

Trillanes released a statement today clarifying that the decision to drop him from the witness list was made at his request.

“Earlier in the day, I requested the House prosecution under Chair Jinky Luistro to formally withdraw my name as a witness for the prosecution. This way, the prosecution panel would be relieved from the pressure it is going through,” Trillanes said in a statement. 

The former senator is scheduled to give a press conference tomorrow at Club Filipino in Manila, where he is expected to present to the media his allegations against the vice president. 

After a brief break mid-afternoon, the defense asked the court to defer the presentation of the AMLC witness. 

The prosecution's case on Article II rests largely on AMLC reports covering P6.77 billion in transactions involving the vice president and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio.

Sison argued that they only received the 11-page AMLC summary late in the morning Thursday. She said this left them not enough time to examine the "at least 23 to 24 boxes of documents" contained in the summary.

In addition to the volume of documents, the defense also raised a concern about the documents' confidentiality, citing Section 8-A of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.  

In opposition, House prosecutor Rep. Chel Diokno argued that the defense had notice of the AMLC records since September 2 and pointed to the court's July 20, 2026 ruling issuing a subpoena for the AMLC records.

That ruling, Diokno said, affirmed that Section 8-A regulates unauthorized internal leaks by AMLC personnel but does not nullify the Senate's subpoena powers as an impeachment court. 

Sen. Tito Sotto and Sen. Risa Hontiveros both expressed reservations with the defense's argument to hold off on the AMLC presentation due to confidentiality concerns. Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano argued that adherence to procedural fairness justified granting the defense a brief extension. 

Escudero, in the end, citing courtesy and equity, granted the deferment and rescheduled the AMLC witness presentation to Monday. 

This will be followed by the presentation of witnesses from banks and insurance companies and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. 

Before the prosecution announced its decision to drop Trillanes, Sen. Raffy Tulfo made a manifestation early in the proceedings today to seemingly chastise the prosecution for its recent showing.  

Upon learning that the prosecution had yet to present Trillanes, Tulfo criticized the prosecution's handling and order of presentation of witnesses.

"'Yung prosecution minsan pumapalpak palpak," he said. "There are times na naglalagay kayo ng mga witnesses dito na hindi naman kailangan talaga."

(The prosecution sometimes messes up... There are times when you present witnesses here who aren't really necessary.)

Tulfo said he has observed some senators "looking sleepy" and repeatedly dashing off for a bathroom break. 

The prosecution said it would "take due notice and consider the advice of the senator judge."

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