Prosecution flags Sara’s P96-M checks

The prosecution accused Vice President Sara Duterte of concealing more than P96 million through manager’s checks allegedly purchased using a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) joint account with her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The allegation emerged during Day 35 of the impeachment trial Wednesday, when private prosecutor James Bryan Ibrahim Alih confronted BPI Central Manila branches division head Marwin Galvez with bank records involving the father and daughter in support of allegations of unexplained wealth and undeclared assets.

The P96.7 million cited by Alih was divided into two tranches — P41.7 million and P55 million.

The P41.7 million came from a time deposit that matured and was used to purchase a manager’s check on 9 March 2011.

A subsequent credit and debit memo showed a transaction involving the same amount on 20 October 2011, about six months later.

A manager’s check is purchased from a bank, with the amount deducted from the client’s account and transferred to the bank’s settlement account.

Galvez confirmed that a manager’s check is essentially as “good as cash” and is valid for six months.

Clients are required to state the purpose of a manager’s check in the application form, Galvez said, although he noted that some manager’s checks go unused.

If a check is unused, the amount may be credited back or reflected in the purchaser’s account upon request.

Alih argued that the movement of funds from time deposits into manager’s checks could have the effect of keeping the money out of an account’s year-end balance, potentially concealing assets that would otherwise have to be declared.

Defense lawyer Michael Poa and Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero questioned the relevance of the 2011 transactions, given that they occurred years before Duterte became vice president.

Alih said the transactions were being presented to establish a pattern and trace the movement of funds through 2022, when Duterte assumed office.

P96M not in Sara’s SALNs

“The only point is that the manager’s check [amounting to P41 million] that is being rolled over do not appear in the year-end balance because that money is floating,” Alih said partly in Filipino.

“A similar time deposit that became an MC (manager’s check) in the amount of P55 million was also running the same years, simultaneously, with this P41 [million]. So it’s a total of P96 million,” he added.

Senator-judge Win Gatchalian said he reviewed Duterte’s 2010 and 2011 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), but did not see a declaration corresponding to the P96 million.

Poa, however, said Duterte had “no recollection” of or participation in the accounts, suggesting she may not have considered the funds assets under her control.

The BPI account was registered in the names of Rodrigo Duterte and Sara Duterte as a joint “OR” account. Such an arrangement generally allows either account holder to transact independently.

Galvez, however, testified that the manager’s-check application presented in court bore Rodrigo Duterte’s signature and not Sara Duterte’s.

Alih later said the P96 million was used to purchase four insurance plans from Philam Life, each worth P20 million, citing instruction letters dated March 2014.

He said the remaining P16 million was paid to Davao businessman Sammy Uy, whom the prosecution has linked to Rodrigo Duterte’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Senator-judge Bam Aquino questioned the arrangement, describing it as a possible “scheme” in which funds could be kept out of an account holder’s year-end balance through unused manager’s checks. Galvez said such unused checks were “not uncommon.”

Senator-judges Ping Lacson and Joel Villanueva asked whether BPI had observed politicians moving funds out of accounts before year-end in a manner that could allow them to avoid declaring the money in their SALNs. Galvez said he could not provide a definite answer on the alleged practice.

Quoting a “banker friend,” Senator-judge Tito Sotto said the practice was called “tinkling,” but Galvez said he was not familiar with the term as banking jargon.

The prosecution has accused Duterte of amassing unexplained wealth disproportionate to her lawful income and failing to truthfully disclose assets in her SALNs, which it alleges constitute impeachable offenses under “betrayal of public trust” and “culpable violation of the Constitution.”