COA Auditors to Testify in VP Sara Duterte's Impeachment Trial

MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution team of the House of Representatives will be presenting three witnesses before the Senate impeachment court on Aug. 3, two of whom are auditors from the Commission on Audit who will testify on alleged anomalies in Vice President Sara Duterte’s fund disbursements. Auditor Roderick Wamil and supervising auditor Celine May del Campo – both from COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office – have already been summoned by the impeachment court, as announced by presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero. The third witness next week is Director Marivic Pareja of the House’s legislative information resources management department. Lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro said that they will be shifting focus on tracing the movement of Duterte’s multimillion-peso confidential funds and examine as well how the expenditures were audited. “What we will be hearing next… will be the audit process, including the findings, and perhaps the notices of disallowance, and even the decision of COA which sustained the notice of disallowance,” Luistro said. She added that the COA auditors are expected to explain how they examined the liquidation of the confidential funds, the deficiencies they found, and the basis for the notices of disallowance. The prosecution panel earlier presented retired LandBank branch managers Violeta Constantino and Nenita Camposano, whose testimonies traced the encashment of treasury checks totaling P612.5 million for the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, formerly headed by Duterte. Luistro said the order of witnesses was deliberate. “We wanted to show first how the money moved before presenting the audit that examined how it was spent,” she said, adding the prosecution may still adjust its witness lineup if developments during the trial make it necessary. “As a matter of fact, part of the pre-trial order is a reservation to present even additional evidence or witness should the exigency of the trial demand,” Luistro said further as the impeachment trial nears its first month on Aug. 6. Article I of the impeachment complaint accuses Duterte of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds received by the OVP and the DepEd during her tenure there, from mid-2022 until July 2024 when she resigned from Marcos’ Cabinet. The two bank managers who testified before the Senate impeachment court about the “unusual” encashment by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) of P500 million have already laid the foundation for more anomalies, House prosecution spokesman Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said yesterday. “In the following weeks, the prosecution will show how VP Sara’s handling of these funds were in complete disregard of her oath of office, which constitutes betrayal of public trust,” Adiong said. “Let us follow the money trail because the explanation to the people from where the funds came from should not end with the four gym bags (where the P500 million in cold cash were placed),” he added. Adiong reiterated that the missing P612.5 million in confidential funds does not end with the cash leaving the bank, vowing that more evidence will be presented in the coming weeks on how the money was allegedly spent. Constantino earlier confirmed that four treasury checks worth P125 million each, or a total of P500 million, for the OVP were encashed by Duterte’s authorized representatives at LandBank Shaw Boulevard between December 2022 and July 2023. Camposano, meanwhile, testified that three checks worth P37.5 million each, totaling P112.5 million for DepEd, were likewise converted into cash at the LandBank DepEd branch over separate transactions between February and July 2023. She described the withdrawals as “unusual” because of their size and said the money was taken out through a fire exit instead of the bank’s main entrance. According to Adiong, the prosecution’s presentation of evidence has so far established only the first step in tracing the movement of confidential funds allocated to the OVP and DepEd. The House prosecution panel believes that the testimonies of two former LandBank branch managers bolster the credibility of Ramil Madriaga as these were consistent with his allegations against the Vice President, according to prosecution spokesman Robert Ace Barbers. Barbers pointed out that the statements of Constantino and Camposano independently matched significant details from Madriaga’s earlier account on how part of Duterte’s confidential funds were handled. Duterte’s camp has denied Madriaga’s allegations and questioned his credibility. But Barbers pointed to the similarity in the amount involved and the use of several large bags in the separate accounts. “it was unusual that the testimony of Madriaga coincided with that of our first witness, who is the bank manager,” Barbers said. The prosecution said any decision to call Madriaga as a witness will depend on the progress and requirements of the trial. His credibility and the evidentiary value of any testimony he may give will ultimately be determined by the impeachment court. – Daphne Galvez