Diokno urges House panel to take custody of Madriaga

Akbayan Party-list Rep. Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno, a member of the House Committee on Justice, has asked the panel to assume custody of detained witness Ramil Lagunoy Madriaga to ensure his safety and availability to testify in the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.

The request was made by Diokno in a March 5 letter addressed to Committee on Justice Chairperson Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro of Batangas, after the committee found the Fr. Saballa et al. complaint and the Atty. Cabrera complaint “sufficient in form and substance.”

Diokno, in a motion within the letter, asked the committee to take custody of Madriaga, who has been identified as a material witness in the impeachment case and is currently detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City.

“May I also move that the custody of Mr. Ramil Lagunoy Madriaga, who appears to be a material witness in the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, be transferred to the Committee on Justice, to ensure his safety and availability to testify before the Committee at the proper time,” Diokno wrote.

Diokno urged the committee to immediately compel the production of key records he said are necessary “to fulfill its mandate of evaluating the evidence in order to decide if sufficient grounds for impeachment exist.”

“To achieve this mandate and facilitate the proceedings, I respectfully move that subpoenae duces tecum be issued as follows,” Diokno said.

Among the first documents sought are duly certified true copies of Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth, with Diokno asking the Office of the Ombudsman to provide SALNs for the years 2022 to 2025, 2007 to 2013, and 2016 to 2022, for the committee “to be apprised of the assets, liabilities, and net worth declared” by the Vice President “from the time she first entered public service until the present.”

Diokno also asked the Anti-Money Laundering Council to submit a certification under oath on whether it has any records involving covered and/or suspicious transactions linked to Duterte, including accounts in her name; accounts in the names of spouses Sara Zimmerman Duterte and Manases “Mans” Reyes Carpio; accounts in the names of Duterte and Rodrigo Roa Duterte; and other related accounts, for the committee to evaluate whether she acquired ill-gotten or unexplained wealth and/or failed to declare assets in her SALNs during the relevant period.

He likewise sought records from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on its investigation into threats attributed to Duterte against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, including certified copies of documents and photographs gathered in the course of the investigation.

The motions were seconded by Reps. Leila M. De Lima of Mamamayang Liberal Party-list, Percival “Percy” V. Cendaña of Akbayan Party-list, and Kaka Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands, as indicated in the letter.

The committee is expected to take up the requests next week as it proceeds with preparations for the evidentiary phase of the impeachment proceedings, including the issuance of compulsory processes needed to secure official records and ensure the presence of material witnesses.