Detainee-turned-witness Ramil Madriaga's signing of a waiver on his bank secrecy rights marks a crucial point in the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte.

According to Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, Madriaga's bank secrecy waiver will allow the House Committee on Justice to verify whether or not the cash transfers he claimed to have made on the Dutertes' behalf actually took place.

Chua was referring to Madriaga's revelations Tuesday, April 14 during the justice panel's hearing for the determination of probable cause on Vice President Duterte's impeachment case.

"Ito ‘yung pagpapatotoo sa mga pumasok na pera doon sa kanyang bank account. Kagaya ng sinasabi po niya na siya ay ginawang dummy, kung saan may mga transaksyon po ginamit po siya pinadaan yung mga pondo at ang ilan po dito ay malalaking amount at may pagkakataon na ginagamit po ito pang launder ng pera,” Chua said on Tuesday night.

(This is about verifying the money that went into his bank account. As he himself said, he was made a dummy, where funds were routed through him, and some of these were large amounts, at times used for money laundering.)

Madriaga--an alleged former intelligence officer of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte and later on a "bagman" of Vice President Duterte--signed a bank secrecy waiver specifically authorizing the panel to examine transactions from the six bank accounts listed in his affidavit.

These accounts, he said, were opened for him by close Duterte associates and were used to transfer--allegedly upon the ex-president's orders--millions of pesos to Malacañang and various safehouses.

"Kung maalala po ninyo, may mga ilang bangko po na binanggit po niya na ginamit doon para pasukan ng malalaking amount ng pera. So dito siguro, gusto niya patunayan na lahat ng mga transaksyon ng kanyang sinaad ay talagang nangyari," Chua said.

(If you recall, he mentioned certain banks that were used to channel large sums of money. So perhaps he wants to prove that all the transactions he described really did happen.)

Chua further saisdthat Madriaga’s sworn statements could help piece together the testimonies of the special disbursing officers on how the P612.5 million in confidential funds were encashed and transferred to Vice President Duterte's security personnel, Col. Dennis Nolasco and Col. Raymund Dante Lachica.

These details first emerged during the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability’s 2024 investigation into the OVP’s and Department of Education's (DepEd) alleged misuse of confidential funds.

The Vice President served as concurrent education secretary from 2022 to 2024.

“So kanina, lumalabas na ‘yung pera pala ay tinurnover dito po kay Madriaga base po sa kanyang sinumpaang salaysay at ito naman ay kanyang dinistribute sa tatlong tao, o sa tatlong lugar,” said Chua, who chaired the good government panel.

(Earlier in the hearing, it came out that the money was turned over to Madriaga based on his sworn statement, and he then distributed it to three people, or three places.)

The witness said he worked with Nolasco and Lachica from July 2022 to April 2023, and transporting large amounts of cash to various individuals "as instructed by Sara".

He said Vice President Duterte personally called him in December 2022 to coordinate with her security personnel and deliver four cash-filled duffel bags to the parking lot of the Office of the Ombudsman, a comedy bar in Quezon City, and to her political allies in Laguna.

When Madriaga learned from news reports that the OVP had spent P125 million in confidential funds in just 11 days, he said this was not accurate as he had "personally disposed" of the cash in less than 24 hours.

These were among the funds the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged with a notice of disallowance for failing to comply with the requirements of COA-DBM (Department of Budget and Management) Joint Circular 2015-01. This governs how government agencies are required to use, disburse, and report their confidential and intelligence funds.

“So dito po, nakita po natin kagaya po ng kanyang salaysay, sinabi nga niya na hindi po totoo na 11 days na inubos ang P125 million. Kanina, sinasabi niya less than 24 hours nai-distribute na ang P125 million,” Chua noted.

(So here, as we saw in his testimony, he said it wasn’t true that the P125 million was spent in 11 days. Earlier, he said the P125 was distributed in less than 24 hours.)

When asked if Madriaga would still be needed in the justice panel's April 22 hearing, Chua says he believes the justice committee has already "extensively" covered its clarificatory questions to the alleged bagman.

Since the hearings do not constitute a trial, the committee is limited to questions confined to the affidavits, and Chua said that was largely accomplished Tuesday.

However, other congressmen may still request the opportunity to pose additional clarificatory questions to Madriaga at the next hearing, should they deem it necessary.

Madriaga is being detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Taguig City for a kidnapping charge.