JUST a day after being dropped from the House prosecution’s witness list, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV held a press conference on Friday, October 2, alleging that Vice President Sara Duterte and her family received hundreds of millions of pesos from Chinese sources and an alleged drug personality.
Trillanes presented a financial flowchart claiming that bank accounts associated with Cale88 Foods Corp., a firm partly owned by Duterte’s husband, Atty. Manases “Mans” Carpio, received over ₱319 million from Chinese government entities and corporations between 2021 and 2024.
The former lawmaker further alleged that the Vice President’s Tapang at Malasakit Foundation received ₱150 million from the Chinese government in 2019, bringing the couple’s total alleged Chinese funding to nearly ₱469 million.
Additionally, Trillanes accused several members of the Duterte family—including former President Rodrigo Duterte, his children Paolo, Sebastian, and Veronica, and common-law wife Cielito Avanceña—of receiving a combined ₱181.6 million from alleged drug lord Samuel “Sammy” Uy between 2011 and 2013.
Trillanes stated these details were meant for the ongoing impeachment trial regarding Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth, but he was removed from testifying.
Calling out the impeachment court’s presiding officer, Trillanes questioned why his name was removed from the requested subpoena list.
“Does the impeachment court have that kind of power? They don’t, because this is the prosecution’s strategy,” Trillanes said, urging the public to keep a close eye on the trial’s leadership.
The impeachment proceedings were paused Friday amid defense debates over bank record confidentiality, rescheduling the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) testimony to October 5.
Trillanes maintained that all transactions he disclosed are mirrored in official AMLC reports.
Vice President Duterte’s camp has firmly denied the allegations, emphasizing that presented documents require proper verification and due process.
The claims remain unproven allegations pending formal judicial evaluation.