Private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan expressed concern about the line of questioning by Vice President Sara Duterte’s lawyer, Kristine Ferrer, pointing out that her cross-examination of the prosecution's witness went beyond the bounds of standard court procedure.

“If they’re making a point that this witness, that the COA witnesses here, your honor, because they’re scared of the budget for their agency or they’re scared of these congressmen. Your honor, this is already beyond cross-examination,” Kapunan manifested during the impeachment proceedings on Wednesday.

“While the presiding officer has given much leeway, your honor, let us confine ourselves to exactly what is the definition of cross examination, what was taken up during direct and what may be relevant,” she added.

The sentiment of the lawyer came after hours of cross-examination from Ferrer boiled down to the litigator questioning whether members of the House Committee on Justice panel that oversaw the impeachment proceedings against Duterte were also the same congressmen that determined the national budget.

Kapunan argued that such questions were “beyond relevance” and “immaterial” to the testimonies of state auditor Xylene Mae del Campo who was called to testify in the trial concerning the findings of the Commission on Audit’s (COA) Intelligence and Confidential Fund Auditing Office (ICFAO) on the Vice President’s use of confidential funds.

Defending her line of questioning, Ferrer asserted that the veteran lawyer was “preempting” her questions without allowing her to properly get to her point.

In an attempt to settle the issue, Senate impeachment court presiding officer Senator Fracis “Chiz” Escudero urged the defense to proceed to a different topic.

Hours-long clash

The incident was one of the many instances that Kapunan and Ferrer clashed opinions in the court, as the private prosecutor insisted that her opposing party was lodging argumentative questions against Del Campo.

In earlier exchanges, Kapunan was caught on record stating that she was “preventing herself” from giving the younger Ferrer a “spanking,” later mentioning that she would “refrain from lecturing” the opposing counsel due to her tactics.

After the trial resumed following a brief lunch break, Ferrer urged the court to compel Kapunan to be more mindful when it came to the “side comments” that she had during the proceedings, stressing the public nature of the trial and how the media were able to capture such moments.

She acknowledged that there was a clear gap between their respective experiences in the realm of litigation, but maintained that the same was not a means to belittle their opposing counsels.

“We would like to ask this court to not allow side comments…because those have no place in a courtroom because we are all lawyers here, let us respect our fellow lawyers,” Ferrer told the court.

Despite the heated proceeding, the testimony of Del Campo was fully taken up by the court. The prosecution panel said in a press conference after the proceedings that the state auditor may be the final witness it presents from COA for Article I of the impeachment.

The trial is set to resume on Monday, 17 August, at 10:00 a.m. for the continuation of prosecution’s presentation of evidence on Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.