Raffy Tulfo appeals for Lachica, Nolasco testimony in Sara Duterte impeachment trial

Senator-Judge Raffy Tulfo on Monday said security officers Colonel Raymund Lachica and Colonel Dennis Nolasco should still be called as witnesses in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte to give answers on the unusual names indicated on the acknowledgement receipts of the confidential funds.

On the 22nd day of the trial, Tulfo made the manifestation as Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Assistant National Statistician Marizza Grande testified that some confidential fund payees listed by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) have no birth, marriage, and death records.

“For me it's really important na mapatawag dito ‘yung Lachica at saka ‘yung counterpart ni Lachica sa DepEd para sila talaga ang may kinalaman doon sa pagbibigay ng mga pangalan na ‘yan,” the senator-judge said.

(For me it's really important to call Lachica and his counterpart at DepEd as they are the ones who are really involved in giving those names.)

“I’m very sure, Mr. Presiding Officer, habang pini-fill up-an nila ang mga pangalan, nagtatawanan ‘yun, ginagawa tayong mga kengkoy, ‘yung mga tao diyan sa DepEd at saka tao diyan sa OVP,” he added.

(I'm very sure, Mr. Presiding Officer, while they were filling up the names, the people at DepEd and OVP were laughing at it, making fun of us.)

Tulfo also expressed belief that the unusual names listed were only aliases.

Private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia, however, pointed out that the defense never claimed anything regarding the use of aliases.

“If such was the fact, Your Honor, then the defense should have at the earliest opportunity already indicated that in their answer. But they never did, Your Honor. So we worked on the theory that these are the real names of the supposed payees,” Divinagracia said.

Defense counsel Justin Gular, in response, said that in relation to the Article 1 of the impeachment case, the basis of the prosecution was the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA).

“The findings of the Commission on Audit never pointed any problems in relation to the names in the acknowledgment receipts, much less the use of aliases. There was nothing to respond to, with all due respect,” Gular said.

The House prosecbe ution panel announced last Friday, September 5, that it would no longer presenting Lachica and Nolasco, as well as Ramil Madriaga, as witnesses in the impeachment trial.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/1001215/prosecution-drops-madriaga-lachica-nolasco-as-witnesses-in-impeachment-trial/story/

Lachica and Nolasco served as chief and deputy chief of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, respectively. They allegedly disbursed the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, then concurrently headed by Duterte.