Sara Duterte impeachment trial: New witness on confidential funds to testify

The impeachment trial of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte continues on Day 11, with the prosecution set to present a new witness to testify on Article 1 of the Articles of Impeachment, which pertains to the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds. As the Senate impeachment court resumes session at 10 a.m., the prosecution aims to continue the presentation of its case-in-chief for Article 1 with Roderick Wamil, former state auditor of the Commission on Audit’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Office (COA-ICFAO). Last week, the impeachment court granted the prosecution panel’s motion for the issuance of a subpoena to Wamil. In addition to Wamil, subpoenas were also issued by the court to COA ICFAO state auditor Celine May Del Campo, and House of Representatives Legislative Information Resources Management Department director Marivic Pareja. Del Campo is expected to testify on Tuesday, August 4, while Pareja will take the witness stand on Wednesday, August 5. The motion to issue subpoenas to these individuals was put forward by House lead prosecutor and Batangas Second District Representative Gerville Luistro. This is in relation to Duterte’s alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds—P500 million from the Office of the Vice President (OVP), and P112.5 million from the Department of Education (DepEd). Last Wednesday, the prosecution presented two former LandBank branch managers as witnesses on Article 1. Violeta Constantino of the bank's Shaw Boulevard branch, and Nenita Camposano of the DepEd branch, both testified that the withdrawals in tranches of such huge amounts of cash by the OVP and DepEd’s respective special disbursing officers were "unusual."