Sammy Uy’s deposits serve as evidence of Illegal drug trade of the Dutertes, ground for impeaching VP Sara–Trillanes
- Businessman Sammy Cang Uy, one of the President’s election campaign contributors, gave money to Duterte, his children and his common law wife every six months from 2011 to 2013, Trillanes claims.
In 2017, when then Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV made a second exposé about the alleged P2.2 billion in bank deposits of the Duterte family, he was unaware that one of those who deposited money into these accounts would later be identified as a drug lord by confessed hitman Arturo Lascañas.
Lascañas is assisting in the investigation of crimes against humanity filed against the ex-president before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Last week, Trillanes disclosed to the House quad committee that Sammy Cang Uy allegedly deposited huge amounts of money into the bank accounts of Rodrigo Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte and Cielito “Honeylet” Avanceña, the partner of the former president, based on a “money and paper trail.”
“That’s the smoking gun. It’s the proceeds of the illegal drug trade of the Duterte crime family,” Trillanes told the four-committee panel, which is looking into the connection between the illegal drug trade, extrajudicial killings in Duterte’s brutal drug war and illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators during the quad committee’s 11th hearing last Nov. 13.
It was back in February 2017 that Trillanes showed documents to the media where Uy, who has been involved in the export-import business and a contributor to Duterte’s campaign, allegedly deposited P120 million in the bank accounts of Duterte and his family from 2011 to 2013.
The document also listed the purchase of manager’s checks and telegraphic transfers, among other transactions that Uy allegedly made.
The recipients included Avanceña and the President’s children—Sara, Paolo and Sebastian—with the transactions made from Oct. 25, 2011, to April 10, 2013, amounting to P118,176,767.38.
Avanceña allegedly received money from Uy four times, with each transaction worth more than P10 million, for a total of over P42 million.
Sebastian is alleged to have earned more than P41 million in four transactions with Uy, while Paolo and Sara received more than P19 million and P14 million, respectively.
Trillanes claimed that these bank documents, where Uy was the depositor, came from the same source who gave him papers in April 2015 showing that Duterte had P2.2 billion in bank transactions from 2006 to 2015.
Read: Trillanes to Duterte: Explain P2.2B in banks
Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV files drug smuggling and graft complaints against Davao Representative Paolo Duterte, lawyer Mans Carpio and former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, among others, over a P6.4 billion shabu shipment that was seized in 2017. –INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
Drug trade
Trillanes told the Inquirer Mobile that he had no idea who Uy was when he received copies of the bank documents back in 2016 when Duterte was still campaigning for president.
“We already noticed the name of Sammy Uy when we first investigated the documents, but we only paid closer attention to it when Lascañas disclosed (Uy’s) identity,” he said in an interview.
It was in 2020 that Lascañas told the ICC that Uy was involved in the illegal drug trade.
Lascañas confessed to being part of Duterte’s death squad in Davao City when the latter was mayor.
Duterte’s brutal drug war, which killed between 6,200 and as many as 30,000 drug suspects during his six years in office and when he was Mayor of Davao City, is being investigated by the International Criminal Court after groups that included Trillanes accused the former president of committing crimes against humanity.
Lascañas testimony before the ICC prompted Trillanes to “revisit” Uy’s alleged role in the drug trade. He had brought up Lascañas’ testimony in his YouTube vlogs, but it wasn’t until the quad committee hearing that he revealed Uy’s identity and connection to the bank transactions.
The former senator, who is running for Caloocan mayor next year, alleged that the Dutertes were reckless during the time when those bank transactions were made because they left a paper trail.
Trillanes also told the quad committee that Lascañas provided a testimony via Zoom in the same House panel inquiry that Duterte was using his drug war to scare the people and other sectors to avoid suspicion of his involvement in the illegal drug trade.
” Lascañas mentioned that (Duterte) is the lord of all drug lords and an accomplice of (Michael) Yang, Charlie Tan and Sammy Uy,” Trillanes said.
Aside from Uy, Trillanes said that dismissed Police Col. Eduardo Acierto, accused Yang, who worked as an economic adviser for Duterte, of being involved in the illegal drug trade.
Joint bank account with VP
Trillanes said Duterte, in trying to hide his money, made the mistake of opening a joint bank account with his daughter, Vice President Duterte-Carpio.
Criminal and impeachment courts could look into these bank accounts because they are exempted from the Bank Secrecy Law, according to Trillanes.
He stressed that the bank transactions between Uy and Duterte and his family were covered by manager’s checks issued in their names.
“We have seen the pattern, Mr. Chairman. The drug lord was paying dividends to the family every April and October,” Trillanes told the joint committee.
The transactions showed the Vice President encashed two manager’s checks when she was Davao mayor at that time, said Trillanes who noted that this action was “direct bribery” and involved “proceeds from the illegal drug trade.”
According to Trillanes, the banks have physical copies of the checks, so Duterte cannot just deny the authenticity of the transactions.
We know Duterte’s style. He would make some admissions and then deny them to confuse everyone. But this is the smoking gun,” he told the lawmakers.
“We concluded that the war on drugs that Duterte enforced was to protect his syndicate with Michael Yang, Charlie Tan and Sammy Uy,” Trillanes said. “That is why when he was in Davao, they killed the competition, and when he became president, they created a national death squad and (Col. Edilberto) Leonardo was the pointperson.”
And while the narcolist of the Duterte administration included legitimate drug personalities who had been vetted by different government agencies, Trillanes claimed that it also included names of people who were allegedly competing with Duterte’s group in the distribution of illegal drugs.
‘Hang himself’
Responding to Trillanes’ testimony, the former president told the House panel that he was willing to sign a bank waiver “if there was any iota of truth” in the allegations made by the former senator.
“I will sign a waiver (for) all banks, even the World Bank of America,” said Duterte, who was unclear whether he was referring to the World Bank or the Bank of America.
Duterte threatened to hang himself in front of the lawmakers and would even ask his daughter and “everybody in the family” to resign if there were evidence to support Trillanes’ allegations.
Later on, Duterte clarified that if he were to hang himself, Trillanes should also do the same.
Asked by Abang Lingkod Partylist Rep. Stephen Joseph Paduano, a co-chair of the quad committee, how he acquired the bank documents, Trillanes reiterated that he got this from a man who identified himself as Joseph de Mesa and told him that the documents came from a “close relative from a government agency.”
Trillanes disclosed that the bank documents were the basis of the plunder case he filed against Duterte with the Office of the Ombudsman in 2016, And that Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang investigated it and was able to confirm these documents with the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
And due to Carandang’s investigation, he was sacked by Duterte, according to Trillanes. He urged the House committee to invite Carandang to shed light on his investigation of the bank documents.
When Deputy Speaker David Suarez inquired about Duterte’s willingness to have the House panel draft his bank waiver and have him sign it that same night (Nov. 13), Duterte snapped back, “In exchange for what? Can I slap (Trillanes) in public?”
Tensions rose when Duterte, who was two seats away from Trillanes, grabbed his microphone and gestured to hit the former senator with it. Duterte’s lawyers were quick to restrain the former president.
Suarez then suspended the session and later asked the resource persons to “observe the proper decorum.”
Duterte apologized for his “unbecoming behavior” when the hearing resumed, which was promptly accepted by the committee.
