Duterte impeachment Day 33: Escudero rejects defence bid to block AMLC testimony on bank records

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Monday denied the defence’s motion to exclude Anti-Money Laundering Council Secretariat executive director Ronel Buenaventura as a witness, clearing the way for testimony on Vice President Sara Duterte’s bank records as her impeachment trial entered Day 33.

Defence counsel Mark Vinluan moved to bar Buenaventura’s testimony, arguing it would violate the confidentiality and disclosure rules of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Escudero ruled against the motion, holding that AMLC reports are “not absolutely immune from compulsory process”, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s live trial updates.

The ruling keeps the prosecution’s Article 2 case — centred on allegations of unexplained wealth and undeclared assets in the vice president’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth — on track. Buenaventura had been expected to testify on the bank and financial records of Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, which the court ordered subpoenaed in July.

The decision follows a bruising week for the defence’s witness strategy: prosecutors dropped former senator Antonio Trillanes IV from their lineup after Escudero declined to issue him a subpoena, ruling his testimony identifying the bank records should come after the AMLC and bank officials. Trillanes had intended to allege bank transactions linked to the vice president’s family were sent to China and Chinese-linked entities.