Metro Manila, Philippines – The Impeachment Court will summon three colonels from the Armed Forces of the Philippines as witnesses under Impeachment Article I, centered on Vice President Sara Duterte’s misuse of confidential funds.
They are: Col. Manaros Boransing II, Col. Magtanggol Panopio, and retired Col. Adonis Bahaw.
The subpoena for the three military officials covers trial dates Wednesday, Aug. 26, Tuesday, Sept. 1, and Wednesday, Sept. 2.
As for Duterte’s ex-security head, Col. Raymund Lachica, lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro said her panel would revisit the list of witnesses before making a final decision on whether or not to summon him.
In a press briefing, private prosecutor and spokesperson Jay Tolosa explained that the possibility of Lachica as a hostile witness is a consideration in their decision.
“Hostile witness ito. Mahirap mo kontrolin. Hindi mo alam kung magsisinungaling ang tao. I’m not saying they will lie. But isa ‘yan sa mga considerations. Lalo na dito…pwede siyang ma-subject to separate criminal cases, court martial that would subject him to personal liability,” he said.
[Translation: This is a hostile witness. It’s hard to control. You don’t know if the person will lie. I’m not saying they will lie. But it’s one of our considerations, especially here…he could be subject to separate criminal cases that would subject him to personal liability.]
Tolosa also pointed out that Lachica — should he testify — may simply stonewall the proceedings and refuse to answer questions.
He said the prosecution would not put a hostile witness on the stand if it deems the testimony unnecessary.
Lachica was frequently mentioned in the testimony of former Office of the Vice President (OVP) Special Disbursing Officer (SDO) Gina Acosta.
The OVP’s confidential funds were disbursed to Acosta, who in turn released them to Lachica. It was the former security officer who paid recipients nationwide. Acosta said she deferred to Lachica as the implementor of the confidential operations for which the money was used.
Meanwhile, OVP Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio will take the witness stand on Tuesday, Aug. 25, to testify on Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds. He previously asked to be excused from the trial due to a scheduled psychologist licensure exam.
Former Department of Education SDO Edward Fajarda–who was scheduled to testify on Aug. 24, 25, and 26–asked to be excused from the trial as he suffered a stroke.
Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero instructed the Senate medical bureau to examine Fajarda and validate the medical findings.
The prosecution motioned to reserve the presentation of Fajarda to Monday, Sept. 7.
Fajarda was the SDO who made multiple payouts of hundreds of thousands of pesos to people nationwide in just one day, as confirmed by the testimony of state auditor Xylene Del Campo.
