Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro believes that the impeachment hearings against Vice President Sara Duterte must branch into a full-scale investigation into the alleged Michael Yang-Sammy Uy network that has been bared by former senator Antonio "Sonny" Trillanes IV.

Luistro raised the call in her opening remarks during the House Committee on Justice hearing April 29, wherein she recalled the panel's examination of the Vice President’s statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs), the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report and Trillanes’ sworn statement side by side.

She says the section of Trillanes’ claims involving alleged payouts and the names tied to the Dutertes now demand more than a passing mention in a committee hearing.

“Dito sa milyon-milyong payout, may mga pangalan na nabanggit—mga pangalang hindi basta-basta makakalimutan. Names like Michael Yang and Sammy Uy. These are not ordinary names, lalo na dahil napakalaking pera ang pinag-uusapan,” Luistro noted.

(Here in the millions worth of payouts, certain names were mentioned—names not easily forgotten. Names like Michael Yang and Sammy Uy. These are not ordinary names, especially because we are talking about huge sums of money.)

The justice panel chairperson claims the pattern suggested by Trillanes’ statement goes beyond isolated transactions and points instead to something more systematic.

“At base sa pahayag ni Senator Trillanes, merong pahiwatig na isang pattern, isang sistema. At dahil dito, dapat magkaroon pa ng mas malalim pa na imbestigasyon,” Luistro said.

(According to Senator Trillanes, there is an indication of a pattern, a system. And because of this, there must be a deeper investigation.)

“Kailangang tukuyin ang buong lawak ng network na ito—kung sino ang sangkot, paano gumalaw ang pera, at saan ito nagmula (We need to identify the full extent of this network—who is involved, how the money moved, and where it came from),” added the Batangueña.

“Hindi ito puwedeng balewalain. This warrants a separate, focused and full-scale investigation (This cannot be ignored. This warrants a separate, focused, and full-scale investigation)," Luistro declared.

Luistro then framed that call within what she described was the larger collapse of doubt around Duterte critic Trillanes’ long-running accusations.

“Ang mga paratang ni dating Senator Trillanes na nakumpirma. Sampung taon—ganyan katagal ang hinintay ni Senator Trillanes. Ganyan katagal pinagdudahan ang kanyang mga alegasyon—mga alegasyong patungkol sa mga bilyon-bilyong piso na pumasok sa mga account ng mga Duterte,” she said.

(The allegations of former Senator Trillanes have been confirmed. Ten years—that is how long Senator Trillanes waited. That is how long his allegations were doubted—allegations about billions of pesos flowing into the accounts of the Dutertes,)

She said the hearing marked the point where those old allegations were no longer being judged as rumor alone but were being measured against official documents.

“Ngunit noong April 22, ang mga ito ay hinarap at nakumpirma (But on April 22, these were faced and confirmed),” Luistro said, referring to the panel's previous hearing where Trillanes served as a resource person.

She then recounted the tally from the panel's own process of checking between Trillanes' annexes and the records of the AMLC.

“Pumili ng mga transaksyon—at lahat ng ito ay kinumpirma: 18 out of 18. Labing-walo sa labing-walo. Pero nang binilang muli—19 out of 19 pala. Hindi ito tsamba. Hindi coincidence. Ito ay kumpirmasyon,” Luistro emphasized.

(Transactions were chosen—and all of them were confirmed: 18 out of 18. Eighteen out of eighteen. But when counted again—it was 19 out of 19. This is not luck. Not coincidence. This is confirmation.)