THE Senate Impeachment Court on Tuesday extended the subpoena for Commission on Audit (CoA) supervising auditor Celine May Del Campo through August 11 as the House prosecution panel prepared to present its next witnesses in the trial of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero directed the clerk of court to issue and the Senate sergeant-at-arms to serve a new subpoena requiring Del Campo, an auditor with the COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (ICFAO), to appear from Aug. 5 to 11.
Del Campo had initially been subpoenaed only for Aug. 3 and 4.
She is expected to testify following former ICFAO state auditor Roderick Wamil, whose direct examination on the confidential fund submissions of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education concluded Tuesday.
Escudero said the issuance of another subpoena for House Legislative Information Resources Management Department Director Marivic Pareja would depend on his ruling on the prosecution’s motion for judicial notice.
Pareja had been subpoenaed to appear on Aug. 4 and 5.
The prosecution is asking the Impeachment Court to take judicial notice of hearings conducted by the House Ccommittees on Good Government and Public Accountability and on Justice.
Escudero said he would rule on the motion after hearing the defense’s oral or written response Wednesday.
Lead House prosecutor Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro pf Batangas acknowledged the court’s directive and said the panel would submit its list of witnesses for the following week and its requests for subpoenas on Aug. 5.
Luistro said the prosecution’s next steps would depend on the completion of Del Campo’s testimony and the court’s ruling on the judicial notice motion.
The Impeachment Court also granted the prosecution’s request for a conference at 4 p.m. Wednesday to transfer exhibit markings from documents previously marked during pretrial.
Escudero directed both the prosecution and Duterte’s defense to assign lawyers to handle the administrative process.
Del Campo is expected to continue the prosecution’s presentation of COA findings involving Duterte’s confidential funds under Article I of the impeachment case.
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