Impeachment Trial of VP Sara Duterte

The witness identified three line items in a first-quarter accomplishment report that should not have been classified as confidential expenses under Joint Circular 2015: payment of incentives for travelling; confidential operations under the Counter Insurgency Program; and expenses under the Abuse Prevention and Control in Schools Program.

Speaking on Senate Impeachment Trial, a witness told the court that the Office of the Vice President's first-quarter accomplishment report listed 42 million pesos for provision of medical and food aid, with no supporting documents attached to prove the funds were actually spent.

The witness, reviewing documents on screen, said the same category appeared again in the second quarter at 10 million pesos—also without attachments. Under the joint circular governing confidential funds, rewards and expenditures must be supported by documentation evidencing their success or completion. The witness testified these line items did not meet that requirement.

The Senate impeachment court resumed proceedings Wednesday morning, with a witness on the stand being walked through a certified copy bearing the signature of a government official identified on screen as David E. Baccay, Administrative Aide VI, the Senate Impeachment Trial broadcast showed.

Counsel for the prosecution — the audio indicates private prosecutor Lorna Patajo-Kapunan was recognized — directed the witness to read the document aloud and confirm whether the signature matched others he had seen Baccay sign.

"Nakita ko po siyang pumirma ng ibang dokumento at yung kanyang pirma sa mga dokumento … ay kapareho ng kanyang firma sa certified na kopya," the witness told the court ["I saw him sign other documents and his signature on those documents … matches his signature on the certified copy"].

A prosecutor noted to the court that the session had been interrupted the previous day mid-way through comparing acknowledgement receipts — roughly half of the documents had been checked — and asked for time to complete the review of the remaining materials.

Four in 10 Filipinos identified bribery as the most serious allegation in Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial, according to a survey by OCTA Research conducted from July 4 to 11. The poll found 43 percent of respondents want bribery allegations prioritized, while 28 percent identified misuse of confidential funds as the most serious charge.

The bribery allegation was considered most serious across geographic areas, socio-economic classes, age groups and educational levels, OCTA said. "Allegations directly associated with bribery resonate most strongly with the public and are likely to shape broader perceptions of the impeachment proceedings," the research group said.

The survey of 1,200 respondents, with a margin of error of plus or minus three percent, showed Filipinos distinguish among individual impeachment charges rather than treating the complaint as a single political issue, OCTA found. Ten percent of respondents chose unexplained wealth and grave threats allegations, while 8 percent said they do not know which charge is most serious, Janvic Mateo reports for philstar.com.

The witness further testified that the total expenses claimed on acknowledgement receipts amounted to 125.150 billion pesos, exceeding the amount listed in the accomplishment report by 150 million pesos. Speaking on Senate Impeachment Trial, the witness said there was a discrepancy between what was liquidated and what the office reported as spent.

A witness being examined before the impeachment court told Senate Impeachment Trial that several acknowledgement receipts shown to him — drawn from a set of 845 such documents — were dated outside the covered disbursement period of December 21 to 31, 2022.

One receipt on screen showed ₱70,000 received "for payment of information" and bore a date of July 27, 2023, which the witness said fell outside the period under review. A separate entry dated December 27, 2023 was flagged on the same ground.

A prosecutor walking the witness through the documents said the receipts had been tendered as evidence and asked him to confirm his findings. The witness said he had evaluated the accompanying response and its attached documents before issuing a notice of suspension.

The notice cited, among other findings, disbursements that were not supported by documents evidencing the success of the operation, as required under Joint Circular 2015-01.

The witness in the Senate Impeachment Trial testified that confidential fund expenses are governed by an exclusive list under Joint Circular 2015-01, meaning only enumerated items are permitted.

"Kapag sinabi po ang exclusive, I don't lang pwede nga miten," the witness said, explaining that once the circular specifies allowable expenses, "other than those enumerated po ay hindi na po siya allowed as confidential expenses."

This doctrinal point directly bars the OVP's claimed 40 million pesos for medical and food aid—a line item that does not appear in the circular's enumerated list of allowable confidential activities.

The witness also noted finding insufficient documentary evidence of information-gathering or surveillance activities that might have justified some of the claimed expenses.

Speaking on Senate Impeachment Trial, a witness told the impeachment court that after reviewing the Office of the Vice President's confidential fund documents, he drafted an audit observation memorandum noting they did not comply with requirements of Joint Circular 2015-01.

The witness said he submitted the memorandum for review to his division chief. When asked what an audit observation memorandum means, he was explaining the document's purpose as the transcript ended.

A witness testifying on Senate Impeachment Trial identified what he said was Vice President Sara Duterte's signature on a document certifying that the purpose of a confidential fund cash advance had been accomplished by her agency.

The witness said the signature confirmed the VP "certified that yung purpose po nung kanilang cash advance from the confidential fund ay na-accomplish po ng agency" [certified that the purpose of their cash advance from the confidential fund was accomplished by the agency].

On screen, the document showed financial figures and what the witness identified as the VP's signature. The witness noted one discrepancy: the period covered by the cash advance ran from December 21 to 31, 2022 — around 11 days — even though the advance was supposedly for the entire fourth quarter of 2022, which spans three months. The witness said 125 million pesos was supposedly spent during that period.

A witness testifying on Senate Impeachment Trial identified a discrepancy in dates on an Office of the Vice President certification submitted as prosecution evidence. The document is dated January 10, 2022, but was notarized on January 16, 2023 — a gap of more than one year. The witness, an auditor, noted the anomaly while reviewing the certification as part of the court's examination of confidential fund documents. No explanation for the delay was offered on the broadcast.

Atty. Manases 'Mans' Carpio, husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, has filed complaints against House justice committee members alleging violations of the Anti Money Laundering law, Bank Secrecy law and Data Privacy Act of 2012 over the disclosure of bank transaction records for himself and the vice president, according to GMA News. Carpio's legal representatives filed the complaints before the Quezon City Prosecutors Office; the respondents filed their counter-affidavits on Friday.

Carpio had earlier sued House justice panel chairperson Gerville Luistro, House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Leila de Lima and House Assistant Minority Leader Chel Diokno for the same alleged offenses. Manila 3rd District Representative Joel Chua, a prosecutor in Duterte's ongoing impeachment trial, said the complaints are harassment. "This marks the first time that a complaint is filed against someone for not opposing the disclosure of bank transactions," Chua said. "How is that a criminal act?"

House Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio called Carpio's move desperate, GMA News Online / News reports.

Speaking on House of Representatives, prosecutors presented testimony from Land Bank managers showing the Vice President's office withdrew 125 million pesos and 37.5 million pesos in single transactions — far exceeding normal patterns of 100,000 to 500,000 pesos, according to one witness.

The withdrawals appeared to follow a quarterly, calendar-based pattern, prosecutors said. The testimony is part of the foundation for Article I of the impeachment complaint, which alleges misuse of confidential funds.

Speaking on House of Representatives, a member of the prosecution panel responded to a reporter's question about VP Duterte's claim to know a hitman, saying she had a clear duty to inform law enforcement rather than make the allegation in an international forum.

"Yes, dapat nga. Bigyan nyan ang lead ang mating PNP, NBI and all the law enforcement agencies kung sino tumang ato" [Yes, she should. Give that lead to the PNP, NBI and all the law enforcement agencies, whoever it is], the prosecutor said. "Nang saganon eh matigil ang ganito mga crimen na pagpatay" [That way these killings would stop].

The prosecutor called the allegation itself alarming: "Lalo na ng isang mataes na official ng ating gobyap. Daila nakakabahala ito. This is very alarming" [Especially from a high official of our government. That is concerning. This is very alarming]. The exchange follows the prosecution's earlier argument that the VP's statement damaged the Philippines' image internationally.

Speaking on House of Representatives, a prosecutor noted the contrast between VP Duterte naming a hitman abroad and the backlash former vice president Leni Robredo faced for criticising the drug war overseas.

"During the father of VP ,Sara Duterte,they called out statements issued by the former vice president, Sileny Robredo. In fact, they were angry," the prosecutor said, noting Robredo was accused of painting the Philippines in a bad light. "But what the vice-president was saying was based on data that she was holding onto. She had documents to show."

The prosecutor stressed that Robredo's claims about extrajudicial killings were supported by evidence, whereas the current accusations focus on Duterte's own statements naming a contracted hitman.

A prosecutor said on House of Representatives that Vice President Sara Duterte made unexpected statements during the impeachment trial that went beyond what the prosecution anticipated in its opening article.

The prosecutor, speaking in a media briefing, said Duterte disclosed she had threats against three unnamed high-ranking officials and that she had contracted individuals — admissions the prosecution did not expect at that stage of the trial.

"Nakakagulat" [shocking], the prosecutor said, adding the statements painted an unexpected picture of the Vice President's security situation and her relations with armed figures.

The House prosecution panel says it expects the impeachment court to admit bank records, stock documents and anti-money-laundering records linked to Vice President Sara Duterte — and will call witnesses to support them once admitted, a prosecution spokesperson said at a press briefing aired on House of Representatives.

The spokesperson said the records belong to the Vice President and, as stated in earlier proceedings, to her husband as well. Once admitted, the panel will pivot to presenting its article on unexplained wealth.

House prosecutor Terry Ridon had earlier told the Senate court that it would be the body deciding whether to accept the financial documents as evidence, the spokesperson noted.

The prosecution has said transparency is its overriding goal: "Transparency is the ultimate goal of the presentation every day," a panel member said.

Live coverage — House of Representatives — stream ended.

Vice President Sara Duterte has defended the drug war conducted under her father's administration, saying it was a government program and not a crime against humanity, in remarks made while the former president faces proceedings at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

"That is not a crime against the Filipino population. How a program is implemented, whether there were mistakes, errors, it was a bad program, is not a crime against humanity," Duterte said while addressing supporters.

Duterte called for the release of the 81-year-old former president from detention, citing his health condition and what she described as prolonged ICC proceedings with no meaningful progress. She challenged allegations that all listed victims in ICC complaints were killed as part of the drug campaign, citing the prevalence of gun violence in the Philippines, SunStar reports.

Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday accused tabloid Abante of publishing a "deliberately spliced and misleading" video of her speech outside the International Criminal Court detention facility in The Hague, saying the outlet extracted a single line while omitting the explanation that followed.

The video, posted on Abante's social media on July 29 with the caption "I CAN HIRE A GUNMAN FOR P5,000," took her remarks out of context, Duterte said in a statement. She argued the isolation of the statement created "a false and misleading impression" inconsistent with the substance and intent of her remarks.

Duterte urged Abante's editorial and social media teams to uphold responsible journalism and avoid selective editing or sensational presentation. "The Filipino people deserve journalism that informs truthfully, reports responsibly, and presents facts in their proper context," she said, James Daniel Danio reports for The Manila Times.

House prosecutor Terry Ridon told a press conference broadcast on House of Representatives that Commission on Audit auditors will detail how Vice President Sara Duterte's confidential funds were used for non-confidential expenses, citing leadership training as a specific example.

Ridon said the adverse findings of a second Notice of Disallowance reinforce the prosecution's case, pushing the total amount ordered returned to P448 million. The first notice has already reached finality.

"Confidential funds were used for non-confidential expenses like leadership training," Ridon said, adding that safe houses were also among items flagged in the audit documentation.

The COA findings, he said, will be presented through the auditors themselves as witnesses when the trial reaches the unexplained wealth phase of proceedings.

The prosecution panel welcomed the filing of ethics complaints by civil society groups against senator-judge Pia Cayetano, saying the public is now setting its own standards for members of the impeachment court, prosecution spokesperson Zia Alonto Adiong said at a House of Representatives press conference.

"Hindi lang po sa loob ng impeachment court, pati na rin po sa labas," Adiong said ["It's not just inside the impeachment court — it's also outside"]. He said the public is watching and holding senator-judges to account.

Asked whether the prosecution was satisfied with whatever action had been taken on the matter, Adiong said satisfaction was beside the point. What matters, he said, is that all sitting senator-judges display "a certain degree, at the very least, of impartiality" — which he said is also required under the Senate rules on impeachment.

The Senate impeachment court's own spokesperson was separately quoted as saying the court cannot act on the complaint without a formal manifestation from either party.

Speaking on House of Representatives, the prosecution panel's spokesman said the integrity of the impeachment court depends on all sitting senator-judges displaying impartiality in line with Senate rules.

The comment came after civil society groups filed ethics complaints against Senator Judge Pia Cayetano over a splice video she posted. The prosecutor said the public's confidence in the court rests on whether "all seating senator judges … would display a certain degree at the very least of impartiality … compliant with the Senate rules on impeachment."

Speaking on House of Representatives, a prosecutor said both the prosecution and defence will receive copies of all documents, including BIR tax records, as soon as they are submitted to the impeachment court. The presentation of the documents will follow the same week-to-week, day-to-day basis used for witness testimony, the prosecutor added. Because the unexplained wealth article remains open, the documents will remain relevant for cross-examination, he said.

House prosecutor Terry Ridon told a House of Representatives press conference that the bank records being submitted to the Senate will show the actual money that entered and exited accounts over the period 2019 to 2024, and whether those flows are reflected in the Duterte-Carpio couple's tax payments.

Ridon added that acknowledgment receipts for the confidential funds appear to have come from a single group of people, rather than from separately identified individuals — a pattern he said the prosecution intends to develop in the next phase of proceedings.

"Makikita rin natin kung within the period ng 2019-2024, mayanong bang actual na penang pumasok," Ridon said ["We will also see whether, within the period 2019-2024, there was actual money that came in"].

Ridon said the next stage of the trial will focus on how the confidential funds were actually used, including why the spending reached the level of notices of disallowance.

House prosecutor Terry Ridon told a press conference of the 20th Congress of the House of Representatives that bank records and transaction documents are being submitted to the Senate "isa-isan" — one by one — as part of the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Ridon said the records relate to what he described as P448 million in confidential funds, calling the encashment of the money "unusual" and "kakaiba" [extraordinary]. He said two witnesses had testified to that effect, telling the court they had never seen anything like it in their entire careers.

The prosecutor said coming proceedings would focus on how the funds — which he said included 2022 and 2023 confidential fund allocations — were actually used, and why they eventually became the subject of a Notice of Disallowance. Anti-money laundering records were also cited, with Ridon saying submission of all transaction reports had met the court's deadline.

NBI witnesses are among those yet to testify, Ridon added, speaking on House of Representatives.

A senator-judge introduced a new legal reference into the court record on Tuesday, citing Banco Central ng Pilipinas Circular No. 1250 as he challenged the witness's categorization of DepEd's large cash withdrawals.

Speaking on Senate Session, the senator noted that the circular defines a transaction as unusual when it shows specific patterns—a distinction that appears to separate 'unusual' from both 'covered' and 'suspicious' classifications under anti-money laundering law.

The intervention suggests the defence or prosecution may argue that the 37.5 million pesos in withdrawals fell into a legal grey area not properly categorised under the reporting framework the Land Bank witness described.

Senator-judge Raffy Tulfo pressed the Land Bank witness on whether she had seen documentary proof that Edward Parda was officially designated as Authorized Signing and Disbursing Officer by the Department of Education's head.

The witness said she had not. "Wala po," she replied when asked whether any document showing Parda's designation had been presented to the bank. Tulfo noted that under bank protocol, only the head of an agency — or someone acting on their authority with written authorization — should designate an SDO. "So sinabi ni Parda, hello, ako si Parda, akong designated na SDO ng DepEd and agad-agad…" Tulfo said, leaving the sentence unfinished but implying the witness accepted Parda's word without documentation.