Lacson: Remaining P11-M budget for impeachment trial more than enough

Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, chairman of the Senate Committee on Accounts, said Thursday that the upper chamber still has P11 million remaining in the allocated budget for the conduct of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte—an amount that is enough to cover the rest of the proceedings.

Lacson said the P11 million came from the P25.7-million continuing appropriation under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). The original appropriations for the trial amounted to P27.5 million, but roughly P2 million was already spent previously for the robes of the senator-judges and other items.

Of the P25.7-million, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said that P14.55 million, or about P330,763 per day, was spent over the past 44 trial days, including whole day trials.

"Ang huling kwenta ni Senate President, nasa mga P14 million plus pa lang ang nagagastos out of the P25 million na inabot namin," Lacson said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

(According to the Senate President's latest computation, only a little over P14 million has been used out of the P25 million allocation that remains.)

"Sapat na 'yung P25 [million] na naiwan dahil kung P14 million, mayroon pang mga P11 [million]... Kakasya na 'yun kasi isang article na lang ang naiwan at saka presentation na ng defense so hindi na magtatagal 'yun. Sosobra pa 'yun actually, may mase-save pa du'n," he continued.

(The P25 million that remains is sufficient—since only P14 million has been used, there is still about P11 million left... That will be enough, as the defense will already present, so the trial won't take much longer. In fact, we would still be able to save some funds.)

Both Gatchalian and Lacson have denied that the Senate was spending P25 million daily for the impeachment trial of Duterte.

Their statements were issued after Atty. Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., spokesperson for the vice president, claimed that approximately P500 million—or P25 million per day—has been used by the Senate over a span of 20 trial days for Articles I and IV.

Considering other expenses, and the "wasted salaries" of members of Congress who participated in the trial, Panelo said the public cost for hearing the dropped articles would exceed P1 billion.

Gatchalian said the P14.55 million expenses of the Senate for the trial so far covered meals for personnel during extended sessions, supplies, overtime pay, and the rental of a venue outside the chamber's premises for the conduct of budget deliberations, as the trial occupied most of the Senate's available rooms.

"The Constitution gives the Senate the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. The Senate is fulfilling this duty as required by law," he said.

"We extended our hours and devoted full days to the trial so it could proceed at an acceptable pace, without unduly disrupting the Senate's legislative work and daily operations," he added.

During the trial on Tuesday, the prosecution manifested that they would no longer pursue Articles I, III and IV against the vice president, regarding allegations on the misuse of confidential funds, bribery, and grave threats, respectively.

With the decision, the prosecution would only push for Article II, which concerns allegations that Duterte failed to fully declare her assets and divest from business interests, raising questions about her unexplained wealth.

The Senate impeachment court has accepted the move by the prosecution to withdraw three of the four impeachment articles. — VDV, GMA News