VP defense keeps witness list secret
PRIVATE prosecutor Atty. Amando Ligutan continues his direct examination of former Office of the Vice President Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta during Day 17 of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, as questions focus on the disbursement of the OVP’s confidential funds.
PHOTOGRAPH by Aram Lascano for DAILY TRIBUNE
Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense kept its cards close on Monday, refusing to disclose which witnesses it would call as the impeachment trial examined the handling of hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential funds.
Defense spokesperson Michael Poa said the team would not reveal whether it would call former police officer Ramil Madriaga or former Office of the Vice President security official Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, whose names have figured prominently in the prosecution’s case.
“We don’t telegraph our moves,” Poa told reporters after the trial.
Madriaga is on both the prosecution and defense witness lists, but Poa declined to say whether the defense would ultimately present him.
“We’ll see if it is necessary to present him,” he said.
The defense has likewise not said whether Lachica, who received P500 million in confidential funds from former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta, would testify.
Poa also defended Acosta’s use of Bisaya during her testimony, rejecting suggestions that she was using the language to evade questions.
“Perhaps it’s not a strategy or evasiveness. It’s really her nature that she is more comfortable speaking Bisaya,” Poa said, noting that Acosta had previously preferred the language during congressional hearings.
Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores and prosecution spokesperson Robert Ace Barbers also rejected suggestions that Acosta was incompetent.
Flores noted her previous experience as special disbursing officer in Davao City and at the OVP, saying large sums would not have been entrusted to someone incapable of handling them.