Tolosa flags defense delay in comparison of VP Sara’s confidential fund records

THE House prosecution panel on Monday raised concern over another delay in Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s impeachment trial after her defense proposed Aug. 14 to compare thousands of records covering P612.5 million in confidential funds she allegedly misused.

House prosecution legal spokesperson and counsel Benjamin “Jay” Tolosa Jr. said the document comparison was ordered by Senate impeachment court presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero precisely to speed up the trial and was supposed to take place before the scheduled continuation of Commission on Audit (COA) State Auditor Xylene Mae del Campo’s testimony.

“Unfortunately, ang sagot sa amin, August 14. What purpose would that serve? Dahil today nga naka-schedule dapat ‘yan,” Tolosa said in a press briefing.

The court-ordered comparison stemmed from previous hearings on thousands of liquidation documents submitted by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) to account for their confidential fund expenditures.

COA State Auditor Roderick Wamil, who audited the confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd, earlier testified on the liquidation records and audit findings covering the funds.

Del Campo, who succeeded Wamil in handling the audit after he left the COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO) in 2024, was subsequently called to continue the documentary trail and testify on matters beyond Wamil’s personal knowledge.

During Del Campo’s testimony, particular attention was given to 845 acknowledgment receipts submitted by the OVP to support the liquidation of P125 million in confidential funds spent from Dec. 21 to 31, 2022, or in just 11 days.

The defense declined to stipulate on the authenticity of the 845 receipts, raising questions over whether the prosecution’s copies matched the documents originally submitted by the OVP to the COA.

To avoid having to identify and authenticate the receipts one by one, the presiding officer directed the prosecution and defense to meet before the clerk of court and compare their respective copies.

The comparison was intended to determine which records could be treated as common exhibits and streamline Del Campo’s continued testimony.

“This is actually a directive from the presiding officer to both parties para mapabilis ‘yung paglilitis, mapabilis specifically ‘yung pag-identify ng mga libu-libong documents which are the liquidation reports,” Tolosa said.

“Para ‘pag dumating si Xylene, pag tinawag siya ulit for the continuation of her direct examination, hindi na kailangang isa-isahin ‘yung mga dokumento,” he added.

Tolosa said the prosecution had been trying to coordinate with the defense to complete the process before Del Campo returned to the witness stand, but was told that the defense would be available only on Aug. 14.

The defense has explained that the proposed date was based on the availability of its lawyers and that the directive to compare the documents was issued only last Wednesday.

Tolosa questioned the explanation, noting that 16 lawyers had formally entered their appearances for Duterte and that the entire defense team was not needed to compare the records.

“Hindi naman kailangan buong team sumama diyan para lang magkumparison ng documents,” he said.

“And I’m sure they don’t want to make it appear that they’re not prioritizing the impeachment case of the Vice President,” Tolosa added.

He stopped short of accusing the defense of deliberately stalling the trial but said its actions have resulted in delays.

“Ayaw kong sabihin na sinasadya nila na i-delay itong proceedings na ito. But nagiging malinaw, magmula doon sa actions nila doon sa pre-trial, pati nakita naman natin doon sa pagpresenta kay Atty. Wamil and kay Xylene, itong ginagawa nila, sinasadya man o hindi, nakaka-cost talaga ito ng delay,” Tolosa said.

Tolosa said the prosecution planned to raise the matter during Monday’s hearing, but the proceedings were canceled due to severe weather.

“We were supposed to do it during the hearing today, but since it got canceled, so we’ll probably raise it tomorrow,” he said.

He said the prosecution would raise the issue in open court since the directive to compare the documents was issued by the presiding officer during the trial.

The P612.5 million under scrutiny consists of P500 million in confidential funds released to the OVP from December 2022 to September 2023 and P112.5 million released to the DepEd while Duterte was education secretary in 2023.

The OVP received P125 million in December 2022 and another P125 million in each of the first three quarters of 2023. The DepEd received P37.5 million in each of the first three quarters of 2023.

The alleged misuse of the P612.5 million in confidential funds is at the heart of the first impeachment charge against Duterte.

Prosecutors accuse the Vice President of authorizing and overseeing the questionable use and liquidation of the funds, including expenditures allegedly supported by dubious acknowledgment receipts, suspected fictitious recipients and transactions that auditors said lacked sufficient proof of successful confidential operations.

The prosecution maintains that Duterte cannot distance herself from the questioned disbursements because, as head of the OVP and then the DepEd, she was directly and primarily responsible for the funds and was required to supervise their use and ensure their proper liquidation.