House prosecutors dismiss Sara Duterte defense evidence as 'watusi,' not 'kwitis'

The House prosecution team on Friday said that the counter evidence presented by the defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment trial is not explosive and is only as good as a watusi or a small, friction-ignited firecracker that hardly makes noise.

House lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro of Batangas made the observation following the annoucement of the defense not to present 18 out of its initial 24 witnesses.

“In totality, 18 out of 24 witnesses were submitted by the defense to the impeachment court for the issuance of subpoenas, but they did not proceed to take the witness stand. Either the witness declined or stipulated (agreed) to the documents or testimony that was intended to be presented. And indeed, this is the first time that we are hearing the answer of the respondent vice president, and we were anticipating explosive testimonies and/or evidence,” Luistro said in a press conference.

“But apparently, hindi nga ito kwitis. Watusi pa yata ito,” Luistro added.

(But apparently, this isn't a rocket firework. It seems to be a watusi instead.)

Luistro said that the testimony of the six witnesses of the defense hardly accounted for the P817 million unexplained wealth that the prosecution is alleging based on analysis of the Vice President and her husband Manases Carpio’s bank account, bank transactions, tax filings and Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth conducted by expert witness and accountant-lawyer Alex Cabrera.

The defense witnesses include:

• Davao City assessor Jaime Adalin
• Davao City accountant Vingelin Bajan
• Samal Island assessor Kenneth Enumerables
• GenCorp. Industries Inc. counsel Suzette Punay
• Lawyer Anel Antero, close friend of the Duterte-Carpio couple
• Chad Parian, a friend of Carpio

“We were anticipating the defense to explain this huge amount of undeclared and/or unexplained property of the respondent Vice President. But the city assessor’s testimony concerned a property valued at P10 million," Luistro said.

"The testimony of the city assessor of Davao on a certain Davao property valued at P10 million, while the Samal assessor testified on the P4 million Samal property supposedly declared on the SALN… but they could not explain the disparity in the acquisition cost, the disparity in the technical description,” she said.

During the cross-examination of private prosecutors Mae Divinagracia and Lorna Kapunan on defense witnesses, it was also revealed that Davao City accountant Bajan was a former partner of the accounting firm of the declared businesses of the Duterte-Carpio couple. It was also bared that GenCorp Industries has paid the Vice President at least P2.1 million for return of capital even if the corporate records of the firm do not indicate that Duterte is a shareholder.

Defense panel spokesperson Michael Poa said they intend to present eight to 10 more witnesses after the impeachment trial break due to the country’s hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit and Related Summits from November 16 to 18.

Luistro, however, said they can only hope that the testimony of the next witness will directly respond to the prosecution’s allegations.

“We look forward to witnesses who will be able to testify on more substantial facts that are completely responsive to the specific allegations in the complaint: the failure to declare in the SALN, unexplained wealth, which means property cannot be supported by legal income. And three, non-divestment of other business and financial interests,” she said.

“As far as the prosecution is concerned, we have strongly and clearly established these three specific allegations, which to this date were ay hindi pa rin na ipaliwanag ng anim na testigo na iparinisenta ng defense,” Luistro added.

(The six witnesses have not been able to explain this.)

House prosecutor Joel Chua of Manila said the bloodbath that the Vice President earlier mentioned was happening to the defense.

“Naglabas po ng ebidensiya ang prosecution, nabugbog po sila. Naglabas ng ebidensiya, testigo ang defense, mas lalo pa silang nabugbog. Duguan na po sila,” Chua said.

(When we presented evidence, they ended up bloodied. When they presented theirs, they became more bloodied.)

“Hanggang ngayon, hindi pa tumatama iyong suntok nila sa prosecution,” Chua added.

(Until now, they have yet to land a punch on us.) —LDF, GMA News