VP Sara Duterte impeachment trial: Prosecution drops remaining witnesses on confidential funds case

MANILA, Philippines – The House prosecution panel withdrew on Tuesday the last 15 witnesses for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment article I, referring to her supposed misuse of confidential funds. “We have decided to forgo not only with the witnesses subpoenaed for today but with all the remaining 15 witnesses,” counsel for the prosecution Lorna Kapunan told the court. READ: 37 alleged recipients of Sara Duterte’s secret funds are dead – PSA The prosecution was set to present 27 witnesses for the said article, but has so far examined 10 and was able to stipulate to the testimony of two others. With this, the prosecution’s period of tackling Duterte’s alleged confidential funds came to a close. Kapunan explained the panel’s reasoning. “It is the prosecution’s contention that the case has become very clear – not a conclusion of fact and law, but a conclusion based on 4,750 documents presented and identified by the 12 witnesses,” Kapunan said. The lawyer pressed that their decision follows that the 12 witnesses thus far all point to Duterte herself. “The testimony elicited very clearly a pattern as one would see a chess board… All of these actors in this chess board point to one person, the queen, the Vice President.” Kapunan stressed. She then revealed that the prosecution wishes to call on Duterte as a later witness for all the articles. /jpv