Lacson: Trillanes subpoena decision not Escudero’s alone

Senator-judge Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Saturday pushed back against suggestions that impeachment court presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero alone decided against compelling former senator Antonio Trillanes IV to testify in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.

Lacson said the decision on Trillanes’ subpoena involved more than the presiding officer, as the former senator’s appearance had become contentious after the House prosecution panel withdrew him from its witness list.

“Just so the public knows: not to defend the Impeachment Court’s presiding officer, but the decision not to subpoena former Sen. Sonny Trillanes wasn’t made by him alone,” Lacson said in a post on X.

Trillanes had been named as a prosecution witness but was dropped from the list Thursday at his own request.

He subsequently held a press conference Friday where he laid out allegations against Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio, instead of presenting them before the impeachment court.

Lacson said Trillanes appeared to have done substantial research, but questioned whether the former senator could personally establish the matters he intended to raise.

“In fairness to former Sen. Sonny Trillanes, masustansya ang kanyang research. The main issue is its evidentiary value for prosecutorial purposes due to his apparent lack of personal knowledge,” Lacson said.

Impeachment Court spokesperson Regie Tongol said the prosecution itself did not identify Trillanes in time for a subpoena to be issued.

Tongol said Trillanes could nevertheless have appeared before the court voluntarily even without a subpoena.

The former senator instead used his Friday press conference to accuse Duterte and Carpio of receiving hundreds of millions of pesos allegedly linked to China.

Trillanes claimed Duterte received P150 million through her foundation from the Chinese Embassy, while Carpio allegedly received P319 million through his business.

He said the alleged transactions raised national security concerns because Duterte is the country’s vice president.

Duterte Spokesperson Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr. said Trillanes had repeatedly made allegations against the Duterte family since 2016, including claims involving extrajudicial killings, illegal drugs, unexplained wealth, corruption and alleged links to China.

Panelo also questioned why Trillanes did not present his allegations before the impeachment court, where he could have testified under oath and been subjected to questioning by Duterte’s defense lawyers.

He described Trillanes’ decision to make the accusations outside the proceedings as evidence that they would not withstand legal scrutiny.