Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 42: Mans Carpio's spending scrutinized, 'BP Inday' shows up

The 43rd day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte lasted less than three hours, but it did not make the proceedings any less intense.

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero opened the proceedings by calling on his fellow Senator judges to exercise restraint over the witnesses’ unresponsive answers, saying that these do not automatically constitute grounds for contempt.

“The Chair wishes to emphasize that an answer which may be unsatisfactory is not inherently contemptible. Supreme Court cases have cautioned courts to use the power of contempt with the highest restraint,” the presiding officer said.

Vice President Duterte's defense team then decided not to present a witness from the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) for her impeachment trial.

This developed after defense counsel Michael Poa said Atty. Paul Roderick Ysmael, senior vice president of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), won’t stand as a defense witness anymore because it was already established that Poa’s letter to the BPI inquiring about the bank accounts of the Vice President and/or her husband, Manases Carpio, is authentic.

This meant the defense dropped all 16 scheduled witnesses who are bank officials.

But for the House prosecution panel, the defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte decided against fielding a BPI witness because there is no guarantee that the witness’ testimony will favor the Vice President.

The first witness for the defense on Day 43, Atty. Anel Antero, a close friend of the Vice President and her husband, testified that he was with Carpio and their nine other law school friends when they dined in Ginza and used Carpio’s credit card to pay for the bill.

Antero said he later reimbursed Carpio with 40,000 Japanese Yen or around P16,000.

But when private prosecutor Virgil Ligutan asked Antero if he received over P580,000 remittance from Carpio in July 2020 as stated in Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) records, Antero did not give a categorical answer.

“Honestly, I don't recall,” Antero said.

Second defense witness Chad Parian, on the other hand, testified that Carpio paid for P256,000 worth of shoes for the children of Elite Basketball team and their parents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after the children’s team won the basketball championship in a tournament there.

Private prosecutor Rey Robles asked Parian if such a gesture is compliant with the Code of Conduct for Public Officials and Employees, which states that “Public officials and employees and their families shall lead modest lives appropriate to their positions and income” and that “they shall not indulge in extravagant or ostentatious display of wealth in any form."

Parian, who said his son and that of Carpio played for the same team in a tournament in Malaysia where the team won the championship, did not give a categorical answer to Robles and instead said that the children who just won a basketball championship abroad deserve to have new shoes.

Robles’ question did not sit well with at least two senator-judges: Pia Cayetano and Robin Padilla.

Cayetano expressed disdain, saying the prosecution appears to have an intention to make a parent relinquish their parental duty in terms of rearing their child in the manner they feel is the best to promote character, leadership, and teamwork just because one of the parents is a public official.

Padilla, on the other hand, dared House prosecutors to have him investigated because he also spent P900,000, P300,000 and P340,000 for those who are in need of his help.

The prosecution is arguing that these purchases are material to their unexplained wealth allegations, considering that the Duterte-Carpio couple declared zero cash on hand and cash in bank for 2019 to 2025 in their joint Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

But for senator-judge Juan Miguel Zubiri, the impeachment proceedings should not belabor the point concerning the credit card purchases of Carpio and instead probe the over P300 million worth of foreign remittances to Cale88 Foods Corporation, a declared asset of the Vice President’s husband.

After the trial proper, online personality BP Inday Tasha, a known impersonator of Vice President Duterte, was spotted in the Senate.

Inday Tasha was seen encountering House prosecutor and ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima outside the session hall, where she playfully asked de Lima not to impeach her.

In a separate interview, Inday Tasha said the videos her team creates mimicking the Vice President are purposely short and funny, and are based on what is happening on the news cycle.

Inday Tasha also met defense counsel Michael Poa and posed for a photo with the lawyer.

In a separate press conference, Poa said that the defense will present eight more witnesses, and that the defense is trying to “speed things up”.

“As long as we are able to make the points we want to make, to provide the Vice President with the best defense we can provide her, then we should be okay with that,” Poa said.—LDF, GMA News