The money that wasn’t there
Sometimes, the most revealing thing about a bank account is not the money sitting in it. It is the money that passed through it.
The impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte have shifted focus from how much money was allegedly sitting in her bank accounts to how much money moved through those accounts and who ultimately benefited from it. A Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) official testified that a time deposit account opened in January 2010 with P40.65 million grew to P41.72 million after 12 renewals, including interest.
This amount was later used to purchase a manager's check. Private prosecutor James Bryan Ibrahim Alih highlighted the significance of this transaction, as money placed in a manager's check may no longer appear in the account's year-end balance since the funds have already moved elsewhere. This question of how much money moved through the accounts and what happened to the money after it was placed in the checks forms the crux of the controversy.
The prosecution plans to present further evidence to connect the initial P41.72 million with an additional P55 million, which they claim will eventually converge at BPI Julia Vargas and be used to purchase insurance policies. If they can establish this chain of transactions, the controversy would shift from competing political claims about what the bank account contained to a sequence of events that can be objectively explained.
The current proceedings could become uncomfortable for the Dutertes as claims that were previously dismissed as political attacks may now be tested against concrete records. However, the final outcome will depend on whether the prosecution can successfully link the funds to any improper activities.
Written by urgent.news from Philippine Star Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
