Former President Rodrigo Duterte (left) and Vice President Sara Duterte 鈥擮fficial Facebook pages of Rody Duterte and Inday Sara Duterte
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Even Vice President Sara Duterte did not escape the sweeping report of the House quad committee calling for her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, to be held liable for crimes against humanity for his vicious drug war.
Among the recommendations in the panel鈥檚 51-page report is for the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to further investigate the alleged joint bank accounts of the former President and his daughter 鈥渁s alleged by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, containing funds coming from an alleged drug lord, Sammy Uy.鈥�
This could compound Duterte鈥檚 political woes as she is already facing three impeachment complaints and a separate inquiry by the House committee on good government for her alleged misuse of confidential funds as Vice President and as former education secretary.
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Drug money
The quad committee cited Trillanes鈥� testimony about bank accounts shared by the Dutertes, into which millions of pesos were transferred regularly by Uy, one of Duterte鈥檚 election campaign contributors.
From 2011 to 2013 alone, Trillanes claimed that the Dutertes received more than P133 million: P14.88 million was transferred to Vice President Sara Duterte鈥檚 account, P15.65 million to the former President, P41.2 million to Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, and P42.6 million to Cielito 鈥淗oneylet鈥� Avance帽a.
Some of the deposits were based on managers鈥� checks that were traced to Uy, who was later identified by confessed hitman Arturo Lasca帽as as a drug lord in his affidavit before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we concluded that this war on drugs is fake to protect his syndicate, which includes (former presidential economic adviser) Michael Yang, Sammy Uy, and Charlie Tan,鈥� the former senator said during one of the quad committee鈥檚 hearings.
Duterte himself denied the accusations and even said he was willing to execute a bank waiver after being dared again by Trillanes.
He later backtracked and said he would only do so if Trillanes hung himself.
Testifying before the House panel, Duterte also said that he would take 鈥渇ull legal, moral responsibility鈥� for his administration鈥檚 bloody war on drugs.
Wider probe
The recommendations are all contained in the progress report submitted by the megapanel chaired by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers during Congress鈥� last working day, Dec. 18.
Among others, the report said Duterte, along with his allies Senators Christopher 鈥淏ong鈥� Go and Ronald 鈥淏ato鈥� dela Rosa, should be held accountable for crimes against humanity for leading the brutal campaign that claimed thousands of lives over his six-year term.
The same report, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer, also called for further investigation into the Vice President鈥檚 brother, Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte, for his alleged involvement in a so-called Davao Mafia involved in the drug trade, as alleged by former Customs insiders Jimmy Guban and Mark Taguba.
When Barbers read his sponsorship speech, however, he only mentioned that the panel recommended further investigation into, among others, Uy for his alleged involvement in the drug trade.
He did not name Sara Duterte or the bank accounts, even though the call for AMLC to further investigate was part of the roster of recommendations to address 鈥渆xtrajudicial killings.鈥�
Based on official reports, the war on drugs left at least 6,000 people dead.
However, data from human rights watchdog Karapatan showed that at least 30,000 drug suspects were summarily killed, 422 political activists were summarily executed, and 544 cases of frustrated extrajudicial killings.