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Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero started Day 19 of the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte by prohibiting counsel for both parties and senator-judges from speaking on the merits of the case.
Escudero said this is in accordance with Article 18 of the Rules on Impeachment which provides that the presiding officer, the members of the Senate, “shall refrain from making any comments and disclosures in public pertaining to the merits of a pending impeachment trial” and that “the same shall likewise apply to the prosecutors, the person impeached, and their respective counsel and witnesses.”
He said such restraint is needed to ensure that the case will be decided on evidence rather than on outrage.
But ahead of Escudero’s ruling, private prosecutor Amando Ligutan maintained that not allowing misleading questions during cross-examination is a matter of law, not a personal dig at defense counsel Kristine Ferrer.
No personal knowledge
Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) also returned to the witness stand for cross-examination, but the defense team’s questioning was kept at the minimum amid continuing objection of private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia.
Divinagracia objected at every point that Ortonio was asked by Ferrer how the P500 million of OVP’s confidential fund was spent. Divinagracia pointed out that Ortonio repeatedly testified during her direct examination that he has no personal knowledge on how the confidential fund was spent.
Ortonio had repeatedly said that he relied on the inputs of OVP Security Officer and Colonel Raymund Lachica and then OVP special disbursing officer (SDO) Gina Acosta when he responded to the questions from state auditors, prompting senator-judge Raffy Tulfo to press him as to why he did not quiz Lachica and Acosta how the confidential fund were spent to begin with.
Ortonio responded to Tulfo by saying that he wasn’t sure it was his responsibility to make such an inquiry on public funds.
Tulfo said Ortonio was playing dumb (nagtatanga-tangahan), which Escudero later replaced with “feigning ignorance” on Senate records.
Senator judge Robin Padilla, meanwhile, likened the aliases of Philippine revolutionary heroes and late martyred Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. to the aliases of supposed recipients of OVP confidential funds.
Senator-judge Bam Aquino, the nephew of Ninoy, countered by saying that his uncle used the pen name Marcial Bonifacio but did not have confidential funds.
The prosecution panel also said that Padilla’s analogy insulted the legacy of the Philippine revolutionary heroes and Ninoy.
Given Lachica’s role in the earlier testimony of OVP officials Ortonio and Acosta, senator-judge Erwin Tulfo called on the prosecution and defense to call Lachica as a witness so he can shed light on the matter.
Senator-judge Juan Miguel Zubiri, for his part, called on the Commission on Audit to resolve the appeal of the OVP on the notice of disallowances that COA issued with regard to confidential fund disbursement, saying it is hard to decide without a final decision by the COA.
Escudero noted Zubiri’s manifestation and reminded his colleagues that pending COA decisions do not bar them from trying or deciding on the impeachment case against the Vice President.
Defense lawyer as witness
Defense counsel Michael Poa will be called by the House prosecution as its witness next week.
Lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro of Batangas said Poa will testify on how the Department of Education (DepEd) disbursed P112.5 million in confidential funds during Duterte’s tenure as Education secretary.
Back in October 2024, Poa told the House good government and public accountability panel inquiry that he asked then-DepEd Undersecretary and retired Major General Nolasco Mempin to request certifications from military units to back up the department’s spending of the P15 million in confidential funds for informants in 2023.
Before the trial day ended, Escudero called on defense counsels to remind the Vice President to observe the sub judice rule.
In response to Escudero’s ruling, both parties also vowed to comply with the prohibition on speaking on the merits of the impeachment case against the Vice President. —LDF, GMA News
