Prosecution counsel Atty. Lorna Kapunan called out the defense team for allegedly failing to respond on time, citing repeated delays in coordinating the comparison of receipts.

“Na-Indian po kami,” Kapunan said.

The prosecution messaged the defense on Wednesday, 5 August, asking when they could meet. Kapunan said the defense did not respond until after office hours on Thursday.

“Counsel for the respondent texted to say, ‘We are available on August 14.’ This coming Friday, Your Honor,” Kapunan narrated, reading the text messages aloud and noting that she had evidence of receiving them.

Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero had directed both sides to agree on a date to compare the receipts, either Thursday, 6 August, or Friday, 7 August.

“This morning, we approached them to say, ‘We have one hour to go, let’s start,’ and they said again they refused; they refused, ‘No need’ daw kasi pakitaan na lang ng summaries,” Kapunan said.

Kapunan claimed the incident was not isolated, noting that the prosecution faced similar treatment during the pretrial phase.

“Pretrial pa lang, ayaw na magstipulate. Why? Because daw hindi faithful reproduction yung kopya nila tsaka yung kopya namin,” Kapunan added.

The prosecution proposed reviewing the documents with the witness and identifying her summary tabulation, in line with Escudero’s recommendations.

Commission on Audit (COA) witness Xylene Mae Del Campo continued to testify on the post-audit evaluation of the Office of the Vice President’s confidential fund utilization.