House prosec enlists 10 private lawyers for VP Sara Duterte's impeachment trial

The House prosecution panel has named 10 private lawyers from prominent law firms who will assist the House prosecutors, at no cost, for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Among the 10 private lawyers named by House prosecutors Gerville Luistro of Batangas and Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno of Akbayan party-list in the roster of private prosecutors were Atty. Marforth Fua, a former Assistant Presidential Legal Counsel of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. under the tenure of the late Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile.

The rest of the 10 include:

• Atty. James Alih
• Atty. and Certified Public Accountant Erwin Matib
• Atty. Justine Lamarca
• Atty. Lorna Kapunan
• Atty. Sonya Benemerito-Castillo
• Atty. Deanna Lorenzo-Singia
• Atty. Lino Kapunan
• Atty: Bettina Zamora and
• Atty. Amando Ligutan Saligal

Fua, Alih, Matib and Lamarca are from Pecabar law, while Castillo, Singia, Kapunan, Zamora are from Kapunan and Castillo law firm. Ligutan, on the other hand, hails from Saligal law firm.

Private prosecutors of the House impeachment prosecution team/Tina Panganiban Perez, GMA News

“This is just any other legal work. There is nothing personal [here]. We have a job, and objective, and we will fulfill it like any other case,” Fua, who placed eighth in the 2007 Bar Examinations, said at a press conference.

“I go to this impeachment trial with a clear conscience, and we will be useful in presenting a strong, fair, evidence-based case. Bring it on,” Lorna Kapunan added.

Ligutan, for his part, said the risks involved in prosecuting a highly popular Vice President outweigh the honor of doing public service.

“The honor that this opportunity brings…all the hardships will be worth it,” Ligutan said.

The Articles of Impeachment approved by the House for Senate action accuses the Vice President of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, bribery and other high crimes, based on the following acts:

• (a) systematic misuse, misappropriation, and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to P500 million released to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P112.5 million released to the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as Education chief
• (b) amassing unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings during her incumbency as a public official
• (c) failure to fully and truthfully disclose all her and her spouse's assets, liabilities, and net worth in her statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) including in her SALN for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024;
• (d) failure to divest, and instead, willfully continued, all her business interests during her tenure as vice president for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025
• (e) giving monetary gifts or payments to DepEd officials to induce the violation and circumvention of procurement and other related laws.
• (f) contracting for the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and former Speaker of the House and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, by making grave threats, and by actively inciting sedition against the republic.

Items a, e and f constitute Article 1, 3 and 4, while items b, c and d are all subsections of Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment.

Prior to the House members voting to impeach the Vice President, the following were revealed during the House impeachment hearings:

• Detainee Ramil Madriaga’s account of disbursing P125 million worth of confidential funds of the Vice President within 24 hours with cash deliveries in Laguna, Quezon City, and the Office of the Ombudsman;
• Madriaga signing a bank waiver to prove that he has nothing to hide;
• Madriaga alleging that the Vice President’s election campaign may have been financed by Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation which has been linked to anomalous government procurement;
• The Commission on Audit (COA) revealing that the notice of disallowance on the P73 million confidential fund in 2022 was upheld by the COA commission proper;
• The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) representatives testifying on signatures in the acknowledgment receipts of recipients of confidential funds;
• COA’s Gloria Camora, a lawyer of COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office, confirming that COA also issued three notices of disallowance on three releases of confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in 2023 worth P125 million each or P375 million in total;
• the testimonies of then DepEd Undersecretary Mercado, DepEd Director 4 Resty Osias and DepEd Accounts Rhunna Catalan during the 2024 House committee on good government and public accountability panel hearings which pinpointed then DepEd Assistant Secretary Sunshine Fajarda as the one who gave them monies in envelopes per the instructions of Vice President Duterte in their capacity as DepEd officials in charge of procurement and financial approvals
• the Philippine Statistics Authority testifying that recipients of confidential funds, such as Mary Grace Piattos, Milky Secuya, and Kokoy Villamin do not have records in the country’s civil registry;
• the AMLC report showing that Vice President was the subject of suspicion in 27 confidential reports dated August 2, 2024 to January 29, 2026 due to suspected activities involving drug trafficking and related offenses, graft and corrupt practices, and malversation of public funds and property in connection with the House Quad Committee hearing on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, news reports alleging the involvement of the Vice President’s husband in the P6.4 billion shabu importation in 2017 and the news reports on the Vice President’s alleged misuse of confidential funds;
• the AMLC report showing that her husband, Atty. Carpio, as subject of suspicion in 17 confidential reports from September 14, 2017 to April 25, 2025 due to suspected activities involving drug trafficking and related offenses, and malversation of public funds and property “in connection with the news reports on alleged his involvement in the P6.4 billion shabu importation in 2017 and news articles in relation to his wife, VP Sara’s, alleged misuse of confidential/intelligence funds”;
• the AMLC confirmation that at least 18 bank transactions linked to Vice President Sara Duterte and her family members, as cited in the affidavit of former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, match records of covered and suspicious transaction reports; and
• the NBI findings that the video of a press conference showing Vice President Duterte making a threat to kill President Marcos Jr. and his family members in certain circumstances constitutes inciting to sedition and three counts of grave threat, among others.

— RSJ, GMA News