THE House prosecution panel on Monday brought 15 boxes of documentary evidence to the Senate impeachment court as it prepared to present thousands of confidential fund records in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
Before the direct examination of the prosecution witness from the Commission on Audit (COA), private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan outlined the volume of evidence to be presented.
“Lastly, Your Honors, please, as you can see in front of you, we have 15 boxes, 15 boxes of confidential fund [records],” Kapunan told the court.
She said the records consisted of liquidation documents submitted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to the COA in support of the liquidation of their confidential funds.
The documents covered P500 million in OVP confidential funds for the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first three quarters of 2023, and P112.5 million in DepEd confidential funds for the first three quarters of 2023.
Kapunan said former COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO) state auditor Roderick Wamil alone would identify 50 exhibits.
“The acknowledgment receipts alone for the fourth quarter of the Office of the Vice President will be 845 documents, Your Honor,” Kapunan said.
She added that the prosecution’s next witness would identify 3,664 documents, of which 3,617 are acknowledgment receipts.
Kapunan asked the impeachment court to accept stipulations on exhibits common to the prosecution and the defense to streamline the presentation of evidence.
She said the proposed stipulations covered 31 common exhibits involving the OVP and 19 involving the DepEd.
The OVP records included 14 common exhibits for the fourth quarter of 2022, six each for the first and second quarters of 2023, and five for the third quarter.
The DepEd records included six common exhibits for the first quarter of 2023, seven for the second quarter and six for the third quarter.
Defense counsel Atty. Michael Poa requested a recess to review the documents covered by the proposed stipulations.
“Your Honors, we have no problem stipulating, but we also, due to the voluminous nature of the documents, we just want to make sure we’re also ensuring the rights of our client,” Poa said.
Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero granted the request “in the interest of abbreviating the proceedings.”
The documents form part of the House prosecution’s evidence under Article I of the impeachment complaint, which accuses Duterte of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds released to the OVP and the DepEd during her tenure as Vice President and Education secretary.
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