Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 18: What to expect

The House prosecution panel on Tuesday is set to present a new witness in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte to testify on the alleged misuse of confidential funds.

Office of the Vice President (OVP) Assistant Chief of Staff Lemuel Ortonio will be called to the witness stand once the impeachment trial resumes at 10 a.m., as confirmed by House lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro.

This came after the impeachment court dismissed former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta on Monday afternoon, following two days of testimony.

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis "Chiz" Escudero on Monday confirmed receipt of a letter informing the court that Ortonio's licensure exam, which was supposed to take place last week, was rescheduled to September 1 and 2.

With this, Escudero said that a new subpoena has been issued to the OVP official, compelling him to attend the trial on Tuesday, August 25, and Wednesday, August 26.

To recall, Ortonio previously asked the impeachment court to be excused from the trial last week due to the licensure exam he was supposed to take.

Ortonio is another witness fielded by the prosecution for Article 1 of the impeachment case, which accuses Duterte of committing impeachable offenses due to systematic misappropriation and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to P500 million released to the OVP and P112.5 million released to the Department of Education during her tenure as Education chief.

The prosecution said that Colonel Manaros Boransing II (retired), Colonel Magtangol Panopio, and Major General Adonis Bajao of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are also expected to testify after Ortonio.—LDF, GMA News