Sara Duterte's defense drops all 16 bank witnesses in trial

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 10:31 a.m.) — The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte has dropped 16 bank officials from its witness list in her impeachment trial, including a Bank of the Philippine Islands executive whom prosecutors wanted to question about her alleged dollar accounts.

The latest witness withdrawn was BPI senior vice president Paul Roderick Ysmael, who was supposed to authenticate a letter concerning the bank accounts of Duterte and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Defense counsel Michael Poa said Ysmael was no longer needed since he had already admitted writing the letter during an earlier court proceeding. The document had also been marked as evidence for the defense.

“It would be in the interest of time that we just dispensed with this witness,” Poa told the Senate impeachment court on Thursday, November 12.

The defense had dropped 15 other bank officials from its witness list a day earlier. 

They bank executives on the list were BDO Unibank first vice president Olivia Barcarse and legal service group head Alvin Go; BPI vice president and head litigator Cesar Bernard Coloma; EastWest Bank first vice president and legal division head Marino Buban Jr; and Land Bank of the Philippines senior vice president Joselito Vallada of its legal services group.

Also on the list were Metrobank's legal group head Janella Marie Panlilio; PSBank's legal services division head Jose Manuel Jr, branch review and control unit head Rodel Mediavillo and loan securities department head Mary Ann Candaroma-Morales; Security Bank's head of legal and first vice president Joseph Anthony Lopez; and UnionBank's corporate secretary Joselito Banaag as well as its Davao and Mandaluyong branch ambassadors Louiemel Panes and Jayah Deneserie Scalf, and senior branch ambassadors Rogelio Villos Jr. and Gemma Lynn L. del Mundo.

Prosecutors, however, said they wanted to question Ysmael about BPI records indicating that Duterte maintained dollar accounts.

“Unfortunately, before we had a chance to cross-examine the witness about this dollar account, they dispensed with the testimony,” prosecution counsel Benjamin Tolosa Jr. said.

Private prosecutor James Bryan Ibrahim Alih also sought permission to make additional manifestations on the documents subpoenaed for Ysmael's testimony, but presiding officer Chiz Escudero denied the request, saying that the prosecution had already rested its case.

The BPI accounts resurfaced in October when Anti-Money Laundering Council Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura testified that Duterte and her father maintained a joint account at the bank's Julia Vargas branch in Pasig City. A covered transaction report showed that P9.1 million was withdrawn from the account in a single transaction in April 2013.

Meanwhile, prosecutors said the defense had yet to directly challenge the P817 million in alleged unexplained wealth attributed to Duterte by financial forensic expert Alexander Cabrera.

By the end of the 43rd day of proceedings on Thursday, the defense had presented six witnesses over four hearing days but had yet to directly rebut Cabrera's computation.

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