Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 10: Former LandBank execs say OVP, DepEd huge cash withdrawals 'unusual'

The House prosecution panel has formally started the deliberations on Article 1 of the Articles of Impeachment pertaining to the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds by Vice President Sara Duterte.

The prosecution presented two former LandBank branch managers as witnesses on Wednesday, July 29. They are Violeta Constantino of the bank's Shaw Boulevard branch, and Nenita Camposano of the Department of Education (DepEd) branch.

Constantino testified on the encashment of four checks amounting to P125 million each, or P500 million in total, by Office of the Vice President (OVP) special disbursing officer Gina Acosta between December 2022 and July 2023.

Camposano, on the other hand, testified on the encashment of three checks worth P37.5 million each, or P112.5 million in total, by DepEd special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda from February to July 2023.

Both Constantino and Camposano said the withdrawals of such huge amounts of cash were "unusual."

Here's a rundown of other developments on Day 10 of the impeachment trial:

Cut short

• House prosecutor and ML party-list Representative Leila de Lima made an opening statement on why Duterte should be convicted of impeachable offenses over misuse of hundreds of millions of confidential funds. The Senate impeachment court, however, decided to cut it short, saying it should be the witnesses who will testify on these matters.
• House prosecution panel's Manila Representative Joel Chua conducted the direct-examination of Constantino and, thereafter, Camposano.
• Defense lawyer Michael Poa stipulated the bank checks validated by Constantino. He did not cross-examine the first witness.

'Unusual' withdrawals

• Upon the inquiry of Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo, Constantino admitted that the withdrawal of P125 million each in four checks was "unusual."
• Senator-Judge Bam Aquino asked if the bank reported such "unusual" transactions to authorities, but Constantino invoked the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) confidentiality rule.
• Constantino said the original copies of checks used by the OVP to withdraw P500 million have already been shredded.
• Camposano, the second witness, said the three checks worth P37.5 million each were encashed by the agency's special disbursing officer (SDO) in 2023 despite the absence of documents proving his designation. She said this when asked by Senator-Judge Raffy Tulfo what documents were submitted to the LandBank DepEd branch to prove that Fajarda was really the designated special disbursing officer of DepEd during that time.

Backdoor exit

• Camposano said SDO Fajarda personally encashed three checks totaling P112.5 million in 2023 and left the bank through a fire exit after each transaction.
• Poa stipulated the checks validated by Camposano. He did a brief cross-examination on her testimony, clarifying that the reason SDO Fajarda exited the LandBank branch through the backdoor was because it was located adjacent to the DepEd building and it would be safer to leave through this exit. Camposano concurred.
• Poa later said he opted not to cross-examine the former Landbank executives on their remarks that the OVP and DepEd's cash encashments were "unusual," saying he did not see any reason for it.

Confidential funds

• Senator-Judge Panfilo Lacson manifested the necessity of presenting a competent expert witness with regard to the handling of intelligence and confidential funds. Both the prosecution and the defense confirmed they have respective reserve witnesses prepared for such.
• Impeachment court spokesperson Regie Tongol said the House prosecution panel has yet to establish that the cash withdrawals by the OVP and the DepEd from 2022 to 2023, totaling P612.5 million, were part of confidential funds.
• The House prosecution panel expressed confidence that they have enough evidence to prove that Duterte committed impeachable offenses.
• House prosecutor Lorenz Defensor also said the testimony of two former LandBank officials who described the withdrawals of hundreds of millions in cash by personnel under the OVP and DepEd as "unusual" is just an appetizer of the evidence that the prosecution have against the Vice President.

Ethics complaint vs. Pia

• The House prosecution team said Senator Pia Cayetano's social media post featuring a spliced video of Akbayan party-list Representative Chel Diokno speaking on the merits of opening the bank account records of Duterte and her husband was misleading and violated the senator's oath of impartiality as senator-judge in the impeachment trial.
• Several women's rights advocates, academics, and feminists filed an ethics complaint against Pia Cayetano over the social media post.
• The Senate impeachment court granted the House prosecution panel's motion for the court to issue a subpoena to Roderick Wamil, former state auditor of the Commission on Audit’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Office (COA-ICFAO), and Celine May Del Campo, state auditor of COA ICFAO, both of the COA Central Office.
• Aside from the COA officials, also ordered to testify by the court was Marivic Pareja, director of the House of Representatives Legislative Information Resources Management Department.

Scheduling matters

• Senate impeachment court Presiding Officer Francis "Chiz" Escudero ruled that the presentation of evidence by the prosecution should be finished first before the Duterte legal team presents its defense.
• Senator-Judge Juan Miguel Zubiri brought to the floor a request by his colleagues to slightly move the time of the impeachment trial due to supposed concerns about traffic. He suggested that the start of the trial be adjusted from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and for it to end by 3:30 p.m. so that the Senate session may begin at 4 p.m.
• Escudero said the trial will resume next Monday, August 3, at 10 a.m., and the schedule will be adjusted depending on what will be discussed in the caucus.

— VDV, GMA News