There is likely one week left in the prosecution’s timeline before they rest their case regarding Article I of the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, or specifically the allegations of misusing confidential funds (CF) allocated to her offices from 2022 to 2023.
In a press briefing after the trial on Tuesday, public prosecutor and Manila Rep. Joel Chua said that they will decide who will be their next set of witnesses after lawyer Michael Poa – a member of the defense panel who used to serve as Undersecretary when the Department of Education (DepEd) was still under Duterte’s supervision.
After Poa, Chua said they may have three or four witnesses left – a representative from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), former Education Assistant Secretary Edward Fajarda, and one or two other individuals.
‘Well, siguro ang natitira na lamang kung saka-sakaling bukas ay maipe-presenta ‘yong PSA, ang natitira na lamang si Mr. Edward Fajarda and probably isa, or siguro at most, dalawa. Mamaya pag-uusapan pa namin kung, or ipa-finalize namin tomorrow,’ Chua said.
(Well, what remains of our witness, should we be able to present PSA, is Mr. Edward Fajarda and probably one or at most, two more witnesses. Later we will discuss or finalize the list tomorrow.)
‘In any event, masasabi natin, baka by next week, eh matatapos na hopefully ang confidential fund (issue) and we will move on to the next article,’ he added.
(In any event, we can say that by next week, we can hopefully finalize the confidential fund (issue) and we will move on to the next article.)
Chua also confirmed earlier statements from fellow public prosecutor Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, who said that the prosecution plans to end the presentation of evidence by October.
If they are able to rest their case for all articles by October, Chua believes the defense can present their evidence immediately after and allow the Senate Impeachment Court to rule by December.
‘May target kasi tayo na ito ‘yong gusto natin na matapos, kasi we have to understand after us meron pang defense eh, sila naman ang magpe-present eh,’ he said.
(We have a target because we want to finish this, because we have to understand that after us, the defense will present their own evidence.)
‘Siyempre ayaw naman natin na umabot pa to by next year, so sana, hopefully by November, tapos na lahat, so by December we can have the decision of the impeachment court whether or not to convict the Vice President,’ he added.
(Of course we do not want this to reach by next year, so hopefully by November, we will be done, so by December we can have the decision of the impeachment court whether or not to convict the Vice President.)
DepEd issue
Chua is the team leader for Article I, as most of the allegations raised by the prosecution were borne out of the investigation made by the committee he chairs, the House of Representatives’ committee on good government and public accountability.
Over the second half of 2024, Chua’s committee focused on allegations that there was misuse of the P500 million CF allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2023; and the P112.5 million placed in DepEd for the first three quarters of 2023.
One of the issues raised at the committee hearings was the matter tackled earlier – the testimony of Philippine Army (PA) officials Col. Maranos Boransing II and Col. Magtanggol Panopio that none of Duterte’s offices whether it be DepEd, OVP, or even the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) poured part of its regular allocations or CFs to the youth oriented-programs.
Boransing and Panopio were referring to the Youth Leadership Summit (YLS) and the Information Education Communication (IEC), programs funded by the PA’s annual budget, which aim to curb communist groups’ recruitment of high school and college students.
When the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged DepEd’s P15.54 million confidential expenditures through an audit observation memorandum (AOM), the agency cited certifications from Boransing, Panopio and other PA officials regarding the conduct of the YLS and IEC to prove the use of CFs.
Chua said they are already satisfied with the matter relating to YLS.
‘Yes, insofar as the Youth Leadership Summit is concerned and the certifications they issued, we are (satisfied),’ he noted.
During the trial, Panopio also admitted being shocked that DepEd under Duterte used his certification to justify its confidential expenses, saying that the first time he first heard about this was on October 17, 2024 – the hearing of the House committee on good government and public accountability.
Boransing and Panopio are the eighth and ninth witnesses presented by the prosecution for Article I.
Prior to the two Army officials, the prosecution panel presented two Land Bank of the Philippines officials from which OVP and DepEd withdrew their CFs; COA auditors who checked on the confidential expenditures made by Duterte’s offices; and OVP staffers like former special disbursing officer Gina Acosta.
Last August 24, Acosta testified before the impeachment court that she released OVP’s CFs Col. Raymund Dante Lachica of the VPSPG even though she knew that Lachica was not a bonded officer.
Like Boransing and Panopio, Acosta also appeared before the House committee on good government and public accountability, and admitted during a November 2024 hearing that it was Duterte’s orders to release the CFs to Lachica.