The Court has proceeded with the next article.
On Wednesday, July 29, the Senate Impeachment Court resumed its proceedings on the case of Vice President Sara Duterte with the 10th day focusing on the alleged misuse of her confidential funds under the Article I of the Impeachment case.
Testifying before the Court were ex-branch managers of the Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), Violeta Constantino of the Shaw Boulevard branch and Nenita Camposano of the DepEd (Department of Education) branch.
Key information discussed by Constantino during the direct examination by the Prosecution includes her being the one who personally oversaw the encashment of four checks worth PHP500 million in total. She also disclosed that representatives from the Office of the Vice President were the ones who claimed the cash using gym bags.
On further questioning, the former manager said that while withdrawing such huge amount of cash in one transaction is “unusual,” these are not “suspicious.”
Speaking of “unusual,” that is also how the second manager, Camposano, described a separate PHP37.5 million transaction made by the Department of Education during the time of VP Duterte serving as its chief.
The defense counsel, meanwhile, waived their cross-examination of both witnesses.
Although, another point raised during the proceedings is the order of presentation. The Prosecution was looking to finish the preceeding article, Article IV (Grave Threats), with the presentation of the Defense’s counterpoints before tackling the next one.
However, the presiding officer Senator Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero ruled that the status quo will remain, where the Prosecution will present all their evidence first, while the Defense will be presenting in the second half of the trial.
TAX RECORDS
Meanwhile, during a press briefing on Thursday, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro was asked if President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has given authorization to Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Martin Mendoza to submit tax records of the Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manasas Carpio, to the Senate Impeachment Court.
“Yes,” she responded.
The official explained, “Iyong huli po nating sinabi kung ano ang sinasabi ng batas, kung ano ang proseso, susunod po ang Pangulo. So, kung iyan ang sinasabi po at kinakailangan na magbigay siya ng kaniyang approval sa BIR para mabuksan ang tax records nila VP Sara at Atty. Mans Carpio, at ito naman ay para sa katotohanan, hindi niya po ipagkakait ang katotohanan sa atin mga kababayan.“
She also agreed that this might be a precedent for succeeding administrations and added that the authorization is needed by the circumstance and that the President will not stand in the way of truth.
Meanwhile, Castro also answered those who deem the move as politically motivated. “Sa lahat naman ng pagkakataon kapag ang Pangulo ay gumagawa ng naaayon sa batas, pero mayroong tinatamaan, laging sasabihin nila politically motivated, so saan pupunta, saan gagawi ang Pangulo?“
“Kahit ano pang sabihin ng iba, basta ang alam ng Pangulo, siya ay tumutupad sa proseso, siya ay tumutupad sa batas, kahit siya pa ay paringgan o bigyan ng negatibong impresyon, hindi matitinag ang Pangulo, basta siya ay sa batas at sa proseso,” she added.
The Impeachment Trial is set to resume on Monday, August 3, with prosecutors said state auditors from the Commission on Audit’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office to make their sworn testimonies before the Court.
