Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 19: What to expect

The second hostile witness called by the House prosecution panel in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is set to return to the court on Wednesday to continue his testimony regarding the alleged misuse of confidential funds.

Lemuel Ortonio, Office of the Vice President (OVP) Assistant Secretary and Assistant Chief of Staff, will be called to the witness stand again for his cross-examination by the defense team.

Thereafter, both the prosecution and the defense will be given the opportunity for redirect and recross examinations of the witness.

The senator-judges will also be given two minutes each per round for their interjections.

On Tuesday, the Senate impeachment court declared Ortonio as a hostile witness after he confirmed that he will lose his job if Duterte is impeached and removed from office, given that his appointment in the OVP is coterminous.

READ: Who is Lemuel Ortonio?

During his direct examination, he also said that the OVP requested P250 million in confidential funds in August 2022 and submitted the corresponding spending plan almost a month later.

Ortonio likewise affirmed that Duterte is knowledgeable about the confidential activities of her office, as well as how all these are being implemented.

The OVP official is one of the witnesses 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 (DepEd) during her tenure as Education chief.

The prosecution team 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.

But it is still uncertain whether the military officers will testify by Wednesday. —LDF, GMA News