FORMER senator Antonio Trillanes IV said on Thursday he had asked the House prosecution panel to withdraw his name as a witness in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, saying this would relieve the “pressure” on the prosecution panel.
Trillanes did not elaborate on the supposed “pressure” faced by prosecutors but said he would hold a press conference on Friday to present what he would have disclosed during the trial.
“Earlier in the day, I requested the House prosecution under Chairman Jinky Luistro to formally withdraw my name as a witness for the prosecution. This way, the prosecution panel would be relieved from the pressure it is going through,” Trillanes said in a statement.
“Having said that, I will hold a press conference tomorrow to present everything I was supposed to disclose during the impeachment trial,” he added.
The prosecution earlier said it would no longer present Trillanes as a witness.
“The prosecution has finally decided not to present former senator Sonny Trillanes. We seek the kind indulgence of the honorable impeachment court for the belated final position on this particular concern,” lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro told the Senate impeachment court.
In a brief statement to the media, Luistro said withdrawing Trillanes from the witness list was the “prosecution’s prerogative.” The decision came after Senator-Judge Raffy Tulfo suggested that Trillanes testify before officials of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), saying his testimony on bank account information could provide context to the AMLC’s testimony.
In his manifestation, Tulfo said it would be more appropriate for Trillanes to testify first because his testimony concerned bank account information he had obtained and presented in previous proceedings.
“If former senator Trillanes is going to be called as a witness, it would be better for him to testify first before the AMLC. What Mr. Trillanes will say concerns the bank accounts and information he obtained a long time ago,” he said.
The prosecution had previously identified Trillanes as a potential witness on Article II and sought to have him subpoenaed to testify about financial information and allegations he had raised during the House proceedings.
During the House proceedings, Trillanes alleged that members of the Duterte family received or encashed millions of pesos worth of checks allegedly linked to a Davao-based drug personality.
With Trillanes no longer set to testify, the prosecution confirmed that an AMLC official and bank representatives are scheduled to present evidence concerning the financial allegations starting Monday.
During Thursday’s trial, Presiding Officer Francis Escudero granted a defense request to move the AMLC testimony to Monday, to give them more time to study the documents that would be presented in court.
Earlier, Tulfo criticized the House prosecution panel over what he described as poor witness selection, saying some witnesses had contributed little to the proceedings.
Tulfo said the prosecution should ensure that its witnesses have relevant information that could help the impeachment court assess the allegations.
“You can see that some of the senators are getting sleepy. Others keep going to the restroom because there’s nothing going on — it seems useless. So, if you are going to call a witness, make sure that witness has something to say that will actually help with the impeachment investigation,” Tulfo said.
