PRIVATE prosecutor Lorna Kapunan drew a striking analogy on Tuesday, comparing Vice President Sara Duterte’s utilization of ₱612.5 million in confidential funds to a child misusing a parent’s money for personal expenses.
Speaking to reporters shortly after proceedings, Kapunan doubled down on her earlier characterization at the Impeachment Court, openly labeling the spending a “scam.” Her remark prompted an immediate objection from defense spokesperson Michael Poa, which Presiding Officer Sen. Chiz Escudero sustained by ordering the statement stricken from the record.
Undaunted, Kapunan clarified her position in vivid terms, asserting that the real party being defrauded is not a single guardian but the entire citizenry.
“If this happens repeatedly and you did not use the money for the purpose you stated, then it is rightly called a scam. But the one being scammed is not a parent — the one being scammed is the Filipino people,” she emphasized. The remark underscores the prosecution’s core argument: that public funds were disbursed and certified as spent without clear evidence that they served their intended purpose, effectively deceiving taxpayers.
The exchange highlights the sharp tensions unfolding during the impeachment trial. While the defense moved to suppress the “scam” label as improper language, Kapunan’s analogy reinforces the narrative that confidential funds were treated as discretionary resources rather than public trust. Her insistence that the public is the aggrieved party frames the controversy not merely as an accounting dispute, but as a breach of accountability owed by any public official to the nation.
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