Sara defense dispenses BPI witness

The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday dropped its last Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) witness after lawyer Michael Poa said he had already admitted writing the letter that the bank executive was supposed to authenticate.

Poa told the Senate impeachment court that the defense would no longer present BPI senior vice president and lawyer Paul Roderick Ysmael, arguing that his testimony had become unnecessary because Poa had acknowledged authorship of the document during an earlier round of questioning.

“The only purpose for this witness was to authenticate my letter, Your Honor,” Poa said.

“I have admitted in open court that I wrote that letter, so I think it would be in the interest of time that we just dispense with this witness,” he added.

Poa earlier announced that the defense would no longer call the other bank representatives it had initially listed, keeping Ysmael as its sole bank witness. The defense had originally identified 16 bank officials from several financial institutions for its presentation of evidence.

Ysmael was expected to identify certified true copies of letters sent in 2026 by Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, through their legal counsel to BPI, along with the bank's responses and related documents.

The prosecution has presented bank, tax, corporate and property records to support its allegations, including a forensic estimate of P817.87 million in unexplained wealth.