VP camp rejects new cash suitcase allegations as ‘tanim witness,’ ‘propaganda’

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s lawyer dismissed claims of a purported driver that he twice delivered suitcases of money to the vice president.

In a statement on Friday, October 30, Duterte’s spokesperson Paolo Panelo Jr. said the allegation will be contested with evidence at the proper time.

“Another day, another tanim (planted) witness. They can keep manufacturing allegations, but they cannot fabricate the truth,” Panelo said.

The alleged former driver of then-House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, identified only as “Chris,” claimed that he delivered around 15 suitcases to the vice president on each of two trips to Davao between 2021 and 2022.

During their first delivery in June 2021, their head driver told him the suitcases were a “little gift” for Duterte, who was then Davao City mayor. She then ran for vice president in 2022 and won the seat.

Panelo also called on the media to independently verify the allegations, claiming that the “Fourth Estate was being weaponized for relentless, but ultimately ineffective, black propaganda” against Duterte.

Chris’ affidavit, filed Thursday, October 29, makes him the second person to claim having dropped off suitcases allegedly containing money to Duterte.

The first allegation was made in September 2026 by former police officer and Velasco aide Rodulfo Gracioso Jr., whom Chris said he had worked with.

Gracioso alleged that he delivered more than P2 billion to Duterte on at least 20 occasions.

He also alleged Duterte’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, and her brother, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte, also received suitcases amounting to P1 billion and P100 million, respectively.

The vice president and her brother denied the allegations.

National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag earlier said polygraph tests suggest Gracioso’s claims were "99 percent" truthful.

Rep. Paolo Duterte later filed libel and cyber libel complaints against Gracioso, Matibag and several GMA Network journalists over an episode of the network’s flagship broadcast 24 Oras that featured Gracioso’s allegations.

Libel is punishable under the Revised Penal Code. Cyber libel, which covers defamation committed through a computer system, falls under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 and carries a penalty one degree higher.

The Commission on Human Rights has warned that both libel and cyber libel provisions have been repeatedly weaponized to silence critics and threaten press freedom.

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