Prosecution has yet to prove cash withdrawals were confidential funds, impeachment spokesperson says

Impeachment court spokesperson Regie Tongol said the House prosecution panel has yet to establish that the ₱612.5 million withdrawn by the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education from 2022 to 2023 came from confidential funds, despite presenting two former LandBank officials as witnesses.

Speaking after Wednesday's trial, Tongol noted that the testimonies of former LandBank branch managers Violeta Constantino and Nenita Camposano did not show that the witnesses knew the purpose of the funds they handled.

“Based po do’n sa mga testimonya kanina, there was no testimony from the witnesses that they actually knew that the funds were to be used for the said purpose. So ‘yun po ‘yung i-eestablish pa siguro ng mga susunod na mga witnesses ng House prosecution panel,” he said in an interview.

Constantino and Camposano testified on Article I of the Articles of Impeachment, which accuses Vice President Sara Duterte of misusing ₱612.5 million in confidential funds—₱500 million from the Office of the Vice President and ₱112.5 million from the Department of Education.

During their testimonies, however, both former bank managers acknowledged that they were unaware the cash withdrawals processed through their respective branches involved confidential funds.

Tongol said the witnesses' testimonies were confined to matters they personally handled, particularly the withdrawal and encashment of the checks.

“Their personal knowledge is limited to those facts alone,” he added.

According to Tongol, the prosecution appeared to have focused on tracing the movement of the funds during Wednesday's proceedings and is expected to present additional witnesses who can explain how confidential and intelligence funds are classified and managed.

“Nung tinanong sila kung mag-pepresent pa sila ng expert na gumagamit ng intelligence funds ni Senator-Judge Ping Lacson, they said that they have reserved witnesses for that. So they will be able to show, and even the defense will be able to show kung paano nga ba yung kina-classify ang funds and paano hinahawakan ng isang intelligence or confidential fund ng isang ahensya,” Tongol said.

-Paraluman News