Prosecution: Calling in VP Sara as witness in her impeachment trial is due process

The House prosecution panel’s plan to call Vice President Sara Duterte as one of the witnesses in her impeachment trial is part of due process, House prosecutor Joel Chua of Manila said Wednesday.

Chua made the statement a day after private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan informed the Senate impeachment court that the prosecution reserves its right to present the Vice President as a witness.

“We are considering calling her in since the Vice President has been saying that she is innocent; that this is just political harassment. If she can sit on the witness stand and explain, then she can answer the questions of the Senator-judges and even the public,” he said.

“Kung hindi siya darating, masasabi natin na na-miss niya 'yung chance na para makapagpaliwanag sa ating mga kababayan,” he added.

(If she won’t do it, then we can say that she will miss her chance to explain her side to the public.)

Besides, Chua said, all of the Vice President’s subordinates, namely Gina Acosta, Lemuel Ortonio, and Michael Poa, all said that it was the Vice President who is knowledgeable about how at least P612.5 million in confidential funds of her office were spent.

“All the witnesses from her officials from her office said they do not have an idea how the confidential fund was spent. Even the Special Disbursing Officer [Acosta], who should know about the fund’s disbursement, did not know how it was disbursed. With that, it is only the Vice President who can answer such disbursement queries,” Chua said.

The lawmaker then said that while the Vice President cannot be forced to testify as a witness in her impeachment trial, she can always appear voluntarily, just like what the late former Chief Justice Renato Corona did in his 2012 impeachment trial.

Chua, however, assured the public that the prosecution’s case is airtight, with or without the Vice President taking the witness stand.

“Whether she takes the witness stand or not, we have a strong case anchored on evidence, as you have seen in our allegation of grave threat [against President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and his family], as well as alleged misuse of confidential funds,” he said. —AOL, GMA News