Palace Believes Prosecution Has Done Enough To Convict VP Duterte

Malacañang is convinced that the information uncovered by the prosecution panel in relation to Vice President Sara Duterte’s use of confidential funds is enough to merit a conviction.

“According to the Palace, in a way, yes, when it comes to pinpointing the Vice President, Col. (Raymund) Lachica that they are the ones controlling...the confidential funds,” Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a media briefing on Tuesday, Aug. 25.

Castro acknowledged that the decision of the senator-judges of the impeachment court may be based on politics, but claimed that more Filipinos want them to look at the evidence.

“If we rely on evidence, we can be more responsive, first, to due process, to justice and to their benefits to our country and the people,” the Palace press officer said.

At least 16 votes, equivalent to two thirds of the senator judges, are needed to convict Duterte, who has been accused of misusing confidential funds, bribery, amassing unexplained wealth and issuing death threats against President Marcos.

Castro said neutral entities like the Office of Ombudsman should investigate Lachica’s role in the implementation of the confidential funds to determine whether there was wrongdoing in the use of the budget.

She added that based on the recent hearings, it seemed that Gina Acosta, the former special disbursing officer of the Office of the Vice President, did not know how to liquidate properly.

“It seems that since then, at the time that she (Duterte) was mayor, when she received a lot of confidential funds, there was no liquidation that was in accordance with the rules,” Castro said. 

“That is the pattern we saw, one of the things revealed here. So how can there be good leadership if they have difficulties accounting for funds like this one?” she added. 

Castro also claimed that Sen. Imee Marcos' manner of questioning was intended to absolve Duterte from wrongdoing. Imee is the estranged elder sister of the President and a close ally of Duterte.

“She (Imee) was making it appear that the money was not held physically, that she (Duterte) was not present when the documents were being produced. But let us remember, the witness herself admitted that the one who ordered the handing over of the confidential fund, the entire P125 million, to her security officer Col. Lachica, was the Vice President,” Castro said. 

“This confidential fund is part of public funds. If it is not properly accounted for and for now, the Vice President has not denied that she was the one who obtained the money for her personal protection, and that she was the one who signed the liquidation report, so if it is not handled properly and the documents are missing, that means there is prima facie evidence that they are used for personal (purposes),” she added.

Former Integrated Bar of the Philippines president Domingo Cayosa also told “Sa Totoo Lang” on One PH on Tuesday that the prosecution already managed to lay down the irregularities committed in the use of public funds.