by Diego Morra
Call it chutzpah or simply puerile obsession with weird instincts, but Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio has no one else to blame why her impeachment trial before the Senate will commence forthwith. First, she insulted the House of Representatives by questioning the validity of the clarificatory hearings and insisting that the legislature has no power to investigate her. Then she insisted that the Supreme Court (SC) ruling that junked her impeachment case last year exonerated her.
Of course, Sara needs more than reading glasses and she cannot hide behind that Latin phrase non prefaces compos mentis to stop her prosecution for a boatload of charges backed up by suitcases of evidence mountains. Going by her claim of passing the bar examinations with a grade of 80%, Sara should have gathered her wits and proved her accusers wrong. That is what people of sound mind would normally do. The more she dodges, the better her detractors feel. By refusing to participate in the three clarificatory hearings, Sara gave the House justice panel complete control of the proceedings.
Her denials, and “profound” disgust with the purported fishing expedition, were of no moment, and strengthened the belief of many lawmakers and lawyers as well as journalists and ordinary citizens, that Sara could not dispute the charges or belie the allegations contained in the two surviving impeachment complaints. When the documents from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) confirmed that the bank accounts of Sara and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, showed P6.77 billion in transactions while the last Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALNs) only disclosed that Sara only had P88 million This discrepancy, howled Atty. Michael Poa, came about since the cash was listed in “others.”
Equally creative was the argument of Duterte “independent: lawyer Joselito Torreon that the money only “passed through” the Duterte and Carpio accounts. Poa and Torreon were naturally dishing out nonsense since accounting principles maintain that cash is a liquid asset that cannot be categorized as inconsequential and lumped with sundry items. “Ask a liar why he lied. To explain it, he would lie again,” Fyodor Dostoevsky counseled. But then, as American lawyers say, “even in death, lawyers still lie,” in the coffin or the casket. Sara wasted the hearings of April 14, April 22 and April 29 by giving the floor to Ramil Madriaga, executive director Ronel Buenaventura of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Melvin Matibag.
On April 14, Madriaga had a field day confirming the cash deliveries and showing documentary evidence like copies of checks, videos, photos and other kinds of proof to strengthen the allegations contained in his affidavit. Sara’s response: Keyboard warriors dished out social media videos to debunk Mardiaga. On April 22, Buenaventura confirmed all the figures exposed by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, as well as the 18 transactions cited by Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima. This shattered Sara’s defense, along with the 67 suspicious transactions and 18 withdrawals and deposits flagged by banks themselves.
On April 29, Catibag was the main resource person who confirmed the genuineness of the video produced by Sara to threaten the President, his wife and former Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. The original footage wasn’t spliced, the NBI affirmed, dashing the shrill voice of a Congress “saling-pusa” and an odd man out of the justice panel. As they say, like father, like son. As a bonus, Matibag revealed that the NBI already knows the name of the alleged hitman contracted by Sara to kill the President, his wife and cousin. Still, Sara maintained that what she said in November 2024 was a “conditional threat,” which is a new species in the threat business.
After the AMLC disclosure, Manasas Carpio hastily crafted a petition to stop the AMLC from further disclosing anything about the bank accounts, arguing that AMLC was violating banking laws by revealing the transactions covered by his and Sara’s accounts. Nothing was said about the bank accounts being revealed in Sara’s SALNs since 2018. The Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissed the case since impeachment is not covered by the restrictions as provided for in the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2021.
With the Lower House set to tackle the impeachment case at the plenary, it is practically impossible for Sara to prevent her trial before the Senate despite a strong pressure campaign by an influential religious group to dissuade legislators from pushing through with the trial. However, congressmen are really not dependent on the bloc-voting group inasmuch as there is no congressional district where members of this bloc-voting groups comprise the majority of voters. With the case set to be prosecuted by a congressional panel, such a campaign constitutes meddling in the impeachment process and disrespect for the 1987 Constitution.#