[ANALYSIS] Duterte impeachment trial Day 13: When law and politics mix
The phrase “24 different republics” is a political metaphor used to describe the country's 24 senators elected at-large—acting independently with their own personal agendas, political ambitions, and lack of party discipline.
Perhaps nothing described the senators more accurately than when they convened as members of the impeachment court now hearing the allegations against Vice President Sara Duterte, ranging from grave threats, misuse and abuse of confidential funds, bribery, and unexplained wealth.
Until Day 12, when lawyers dominated the trial, there were a few things clear and certain: Duterte was deficient, if not non-compliant, at various stages in the liquidation of P612.5 million in confidential funds.
When senators talk
When the senator-judges took over the question hour on Day 13, the trial was wide open beyond the subject of compliance of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.
This part of the trial, aptly called “interjections” by the senator-judges, tackled other issues, ranging from the loopholes in COA regulations, including the Joint Circular of 2015, similar non-compliance of other offices from the Office of the President to local government units, the state of poverty and peace and order in the countryside, and the peculiarity of government offices given confidential and intelligence funds.
While this is justified as the impeachment trial is sui generis, both a political and judicial exercise, the Wednesday trial lost focus as the senator-judges asked other questions—sometimes even long-been answered. So many of these departed from Duterte’s alleged deficiency or noncompliance with COA requirements.
Amid able objections by defense counsel Michael Poa, Duterte has been issued, former COA state auditor Roderick Wamil said, a COA ultimatum—a Notice of Disallowance seeking the return to the treasury of some P73,287,000, part of the OVP’s P125 million in confidential funds in December 2022.
The disallowance notice is a final COA notice; the first advisory is the issuance of an Audit Observation Memorandum, followed by a Notice of Suspension, all because the OVP failed to comply with COA rules based on the Joint Circular of 2015 forged by the COA, the Department of Budget, Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Department of National Defense, among others.
The P125 million is a quarter of the OVP's P500 million confidential funds. DepEd has P112.5 million, all facing similar COA scrutiny.
When issued the disallowance, Wamil said, quoting the 2015 joint circular, Duterte had been presumed to have misused the fund, having benefited from it, shifting the burden of proof from the prosecution to the defense.
Before Day 12 adjourned, Kapunan almost got it in her bag, well, for the anti-Duterte diehards at least, calling the VP's alleged noncompliance a “scam,” though the defense managed to take it off the court record.
Day 13 saw the senators asking many other questions, though related, but deviated from the weight of the compliance, causing some viewers to think if the trial lost momentum.
Sometimes, a senator-judge asked a question, and another senator would answer it with his own question, giving away their own leanings.
Pro, anti
A known staunch Duterte critic, senator-judge Risa Hontiveros asked Wamil why the OVP medicines would give away huge amounts of medicines, unspecified for what ailment, without providing any information on who needed it and why.
She encountered a rebuttal when known Duterte supporter, senator-judge Robin Padilla asked Wamil: Have you been to the countryside? To the mountains? Do you know how many poor people in remote areas are suffering from poverty, lack of medicines?
Well, while on camera, the senator-judges remained civil to one another. Wonder what they talked about when they returned to their seats, off camera.
A former police general, senator-judge Ping Lacson, asked Wamil if, because he was handling confidential funds, he was also doing field auditing? Did he have access to confidential information, in different categories, ranging from top level to confidential, for Wamil to understand confidential operations?
No, said Wamil. On many occasions, the witness said the COA audit of confidential funds was limited to compliance with documentary requirements.
So many senators asked if the COA tried to find out the real identity of one Mary Grace Piattos, a recipient of some P70,000 in OVP funds, and many other people using fictitious names.
Wamil had answered this on Day 12, saying the audit referred only to documentary compliance, not an investigation of who received part of the funds.
We wonder why the senators repeatedly asked the question when the COA had issued Duterte the ultimatum despite the fictitious names.
Real people or not, Wamil said these didn’t matter as, having issued the ultimatum, the COA had presumed Duterte had benefited from the funds.
“That is your presumption,” replied presiding officer Chiz Escudero. “That presumption is subjective.” Another lawyer in the court, senator-judge Alan Cayetano, seconded Escudero’s views.
Taking the witness stand after Wamil, Xylene Del Campo—a COA auditor—said that Duterte has been the only DepEd chief to have confidential funds since 2014. She also testified that since she joined COA that year, the only confidential fund records she had audited were those of Duterte. She's set to resume her testimony next week.
The public didn’t hear anything today from the other members of the 24 republics like the usually emotional senator-judge Pia Cayetano. Loren Legarda was nowhere in sight. But a month after the trial began, the public never heard anything from senator-judges Camille Villar and Lito Lapid. Wonder what’s on their mind. Wonder where we are going. Wonder what’s on the mind of the public at large about the trial.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of PhilSTAR L!fe, its parent company and affiliates, or its staff.
