The witness alleges his role as Duterte’s fund manager in the House impeachment bid

By Erika Mae P. Sinaking again Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Journalists

A WITNESS in a House of Representatives trial on Tuesday alleged that he was acting as a private emissary of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, transferring millions of pesos in secret money to different recipients, testimony that directly contradicts his previous denial of any connection with her.

“His denial of any association with me is a double lie,” Ramil L. Madriaga told the House Judiciary Committee. “He lied under oath in his complaint of perjury against me.”

Salvador Paolo A. Panelo, Jr., one of the lawyers of Mrs.

“I have said many times that making Madriaga testify will only reveal his dishonesty and expose his lies,” he said in a statement.

Mr. Madriaga, who is detained at Camp Bagong Diwa on various charges of kidnapping, appeared before the committee as part of the “clarification investigation” related to the impeachment of the Vice-President for alleged misuse of public funds and undisclosed wealth.

He elaborated on the operation of December 20, 2022 that involved the transportation of P125 million which is the secret money of the Office of the Vice President. He also explained the joint efforts at the headquarters of the Department of Education in Pasig City, where Ms. Duterte is working at the same time as secretary, and said that he was responsible for the transfer of large bags of money from government vehicles to private vehicles with the help of security officers.

“This is wrong because I personally disposed of the money in less than 24 hours,” he said, contradicting earlier reports that the money was spent in a period of 11 days.

‘DUMMY’
Mr. Madriaga said the security officer told him that each bag contained P30 million to P35 million, which he described as a bunch of P1,000 bills wrapped in plastic.

He said the funds were brought later in many places, including a politician in Cabuyao, Laguna, a comic strip in Quezon City and the parking lot of the Office of the Ombudsman.

The witness said that his meeting with Mrs. He also admitted that he acted as a “dummy” in financial transactions linked to the Duterte family.

Mr. Madriaga was a former aide to the President.

“I admit that during PRRD’s time as President, I acted as a dummy for the transfer of large sums of money,” he said, adding that millions of pesos are passing through bank accounts opened in his name by associates of the former President. He said he gets a monthly salary of P100,000 to P150,000.

Mr. Madriaga said he signed a waiver of bank secrecy laws to allow investigators access to his financial records, which he said would support his claims.

He also alleged that the 2021 UniTeam coalition between President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Mrs. He said urgent measures were discussed if the agreement is not respected.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Gerville R. Luistro said the hearing is aimed at determining whether there is sufficient basis to raise the case to the Senate for trial.

“That’s why this committee is not running away,” he said. “We are not promoting. We are not hunting. We are simply following the laws, which are based on the Constitution.”

Lawmakers say the House panel is working to establish probable cause after receiving impeachment complaints sufficient in form, substance and reasons. They cited the presence of witnesses and the production of records as important developments in the trial.

Mrs. Duterte did not attend Tuesday’s event. Michael Wesley T. Poa, who was his spokesman, appeared as an assistant but clarified that he was participating in his capacity as a former education official, not as legal counsel.

The committee said it will continue to review financial and notarial documents as the investigation continues, as further hearings are expected.

Mr Panelo said the defense team was prepared to counter the allegations “point by point” if necessary.

In a separate statement, he emphasized that their previous expression of Mr. Madriaga called the “weak link” in the case “fully confirmed,” citing what he described as inconsistencies in the witness’s account and his failure to address the issues raised in the false complaint filed by the Vice President.

Mr. Panelo also doubted whether these allegations are true, saying that it is unlikely that Ms. Duterte and her father would share sensitive issues with a person outside the official security channels, especially someone who he says is being linked by the police to a case of kidnapping for ransom.