Duterte camp says explanation ready for P125M confidential funds spent in 11 days

Vice President Sara Duterte’s camp on Monday said there is an explanation for the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) utilization of P125 million in confidential funds within 11 days in December 2022. “Sa atin ‘yung 11 days kasi may mga explanation ‘yan. May maari tayong gawin na cross diyan so hindi pa muna tayo pumayag sa stipulation,” lawyer Michael Poa, Duterte’s defense counsel, said in a press briefing. (For us, the 11 days has an explanation. We can do cross-examination for that so we did not agree.) He issued the remark when asked to expound his refusal to agree with the stipulation put forward by private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan that the OVP spent P125 million worth of confidential funds within 11 days. Despite this, Poa said the defense team agreed to stipulate on documents submitted to the Commission on Audit and other documents. At the trial, the prosecution presented Roderick Wamil, former state auditor of the Commission on Audit’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Office (COA-ICFAO), as a witness. Poa said there was nothing surprising about Wamil’s testimony. “Wala naman po dahil sa aming pananaw, ‘yan naman na ang lumabas sa COA findings. Pina-identify lang naman sa COA kung ano ‘yung kanilang naging findings so kumbaga, nothing we haven’t read before,” he said. (There’s none because in our view, these are COA findings. COA was asked to identify their findings, nothing we haven’t read before.) — BM, GMA News