MANILA, Philippines – Walang nilabag na batas ang Kamara sa pagkuha at pagtalakay sa mga rekord ng Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) sa deliberasyon nito ng impeachment complaints laban kay Vice President Sara Duterte, ayon kay lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro.
Ito ang pahayag ni Luistro sa ika-33 araw ng impeachment trial ni Duterte kasabay ng babala ng depensa ng posibleng criminal liability sa sinumang maglalabas ng confidential AMLC information.
Aniya, ang pagdinig ng House committee on justice, ay bahagi ng impeachment process na mandato ng 1987 Constitution.
“I just want to express the position of the prosecution that there is no violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act when we conducted our hearing in the justice committee and where we issued (a) subpoena for the AMLC records,” ani Luistro.
“We were exercising our duty as members of the House, we were exercising our duty, which is to initiate all impeachment cases,” dagdag pa niya.
Tinukoy nito ang Article XI, Section 3(1) ng Constitution, na nagbibigay sa Kamara ng “the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment.”
Sa ilalim ng probisyon, ang impeachment complaints ay inire-refer sa nararapat na komite, at sa kasong ito ay sa House committee on justice.
Bagamat ang Republic Act No. 9160, o Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, ay hindi nagbibigay ng eksaktong exception para sa impeachment proceedings, pinapayagan naman sa Section 2 ng Republic Act No. 1405, o Bank Secrecy Law, ang pagsusuri sa bank deposits sa kaso ng impeachment.
Ganito rin ang tinukoy ni Senate Impeachment Court Presiding Officer Francis Escudero kung kaya’t pumayag ito na tumestigo si AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura tungkol sa covered at suspicious transactions ni Duterte at asawang si Manases Carpio.
“In as far as the House is concerned, we maintain the position that everything that happened in the justice committee, including the plenary, in relation to this impeachment case, is part of our mandate and therefore falls under the exception to the confidentiality of data of AMLA or AMLC,” sinabi ni Luistro.
“I’m apprehensive that it might cause some chilling effect, especially to the media, that we are committing criminal violations,” dagdag pa.
“Let us not forget the significance of this impeachment trial: this is one of the paramount provisions, most important provisions of the Constitution as it gives our beloved countrymen the redress against erring impeachable officials.”
“In other words, in behalf of the prosecution team, kami po’y naninindigan, wala nilabag na batas — either the Anti-Money Laundering Act noong nag-conduct kami ng clarificatory hearing, noong nag-issue kami ng subpoena kaugnay ng AMLC records, and we feel the same way sa kasalukuyang ginaganap na impeachment trial ng Senado,” pagpaptuloy pa ni Luistro.
“At gano’n din sa mga media na ang ginagawa ay isang malayang pamamahayag lamang, kaugnay pa rin ng public interest, which is involved in this impeachment trial.” RNT/JGC
