The Senate impeachment court granted the prosecution’s manifestation to drop three articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte as it wanted to focus “on what is necessary.” For progressive groups, however, this move undermines calls for accountability.
“Ultimately, the prosecution chose political convenience over true accountability,” said human rights lawyer and former Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate in a statement.
After its earlier manifestation to drop Article III, which accused Sara of bribery, on October 13, the prosecution decided to also drop Article I (alleged misuse of confidential funds) and Article IV (assassination threats). Lead prosecutor Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro told the impeachment court that they would only focus on Article II which accuses the Vice President of having alleged unexplained wealth, false statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs), and prohibited business interests.
Luistro said that the prosecution has presented sufficient evidence on Article II “to stand on its own.”
Lead defense counsel Sheila Sison, on the other hand, acknowledged the prosecution’s power to withdraw its allegations but she said that the prerogative should not affect how they would counter the accusations against Duterte.
Senate impeachment presiding officer Sen. Chiz Escudero accepted the prosecution’s withdrawal of three articles, ruling that the defense panel could no longer present its evidence to the said articles as they would no longer be subject to voting.
Read:VP Sara impeachment: ‘It is now about how evidence will be used’
For anti-corruption advocate Renato Reyes Jr., this move by the prosecution is “a great disservice to the Filipino people and a huge missed opportunity,” stressing that the evidence presented on the accusation of misuse of confidential funds, for him, sufficiently established corruption.
“It is high time that we teach a lesson to those who continue to abuse their confidential and intelligence funds through fabricated reports and fictitious beneficiaries,” Reyes, who currently serves as president of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), wrote in a Facebook post.
Former ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, who exposed the alleged misuse of Duterte’s confidential funds in 2023, echoed Reyes’ statement, raising questions if the prosecution’s manifestation has something to do with protecting other high-ranking officials. “Are they worried that this issue would boomerang to President Marcos?” she asked.
The Office of the President (OP) was the one that approved P125 million of the P250 million in confidential funds requested by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in 2022, of which P73 million—part of the secret funds spent by the OVP in just 11 days—was disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA) with finality.
Under the proposed 2027 national budget recently approved by the House of Representatives on October 12, the office of Marcos Jr. has a proposal of P4.56 billion in confidential and intelligence funds.
Human rights lawyer Ephraim Cortez viewed the prosecution’s withdrawal as a deemed acquittal of Sara. “In essence, the prosecution has given the Vice President a favor by absolving her of accountability for Articles I and IV despite overwhelming evidence that she misappropriated confidential funds amounting to hundreds of millions of pesos and made a mockery of accounting and audit procedures,” he wrote in a Facebook post. (DAA, RTS)
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