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The original copies of checks used by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to withdraw P500 million in confidential funds have already been shredded, a former Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) branch manager testified on Wednesday.
Prosecution witness Violeta Constantino, former manager of LandBank’s Shaw Boulevard branch, made the disclosure while testifying in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
“Ang original copy ng mga cheques ay na-shred na,” Constantino said.
(The original copies of the checks have been shredded.)
“As per bank policy, lahat ng negotiated cheques ay may retention period na one year kaya ito ay shine-shred na,” she added.
(Under bank policy, all negotiated checks have a retention period of one year, after which they are shredded.)
Constantino is among the LandBank officials and employees being presented by the House prosecution panel as witnesses for Article I of the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte.
Article I alleges that Duterte committed culpable violation of the 1987 Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust in connection with the alleged misuse and irregular disbursement of P612.5 million in confidential funds of the OVP and the Department of Education.
During the trial, Constantino testified that OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta encashed four checks worth P125 million each, for a total of P500 million. For each encashment, the cash, bundled in P1-million packs, was placed in three to four large gym bags, she said.
Constantino, who worked at the state-run LandBank for 32 years, described the withdrawal of such a large amount by a government agency as “unusual.”
However, when asked whether she reported the “unusual” transactions to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), Constantino declined to answer, citing confidentiality rules.
“I’m sorry, Your Honor, may we invoke po ‘yung AMLC rule na hindi po kami pwedeng mag-disclose any information po regarding sa reporting,” she said.
(I’m sorry, Your Honor, may we invoke the AMLC rule stating that we cannot disclose any information regarding the reporting.)
Constantino, however, affirmed that transactions exceeding P500,000, whether involving private individuals or government employees, were reported to the AMLC.— MCG, GMA News
