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Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
July 17, 2026 | 1:09pm
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte's alleged misuse of confidential funds will take the longest to present among the four articles in her impeachment trial because it covers two offices — her own and the Department of Education, which she led until mid-2024 — the prosecution said Friday, July 17.
Article I focuses on P612.5 million in confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President (P500 million) and DepEd (P112.5 million), which will take up at least 31 of the prosecution's overall 62 trial dates, half its entire allocation, and more than any other charge.
House prosecution legal spokesperson Benjamin Tolosa Jr. said their witnesses will trace the full process of how the funds were spent, from the cash advances, to where the funds allegedly went, to the liquidation submitted to the Commission on Audit (COA), to the COA ruling eventually ordering P448 million returned.
"There are so many documents involved in this... We have many witnesses whose testimony needs to be heard to explain the whole process," Tolosa said in mixed English and Filipino on Friday, July 17.
But the panel will try to shorten the presentation, Tolosa said, by dropping witnesses once the essential points are proven, which it did for the grave threats article, where it waived six witnesses.
The prosecution could begin presenting on confidential funds "as early as Wednesday," House prosecutor Rep. Terry Ridon (Bicol Saro) said, provided National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag's direct and cross examination is completed on Tuesday.
According to the court's presiding officer Sen. Chiz Escudero, the prosecution will first present for all four articles before the defense calls its own witnesses, meaning the 31 trial dates cover only the prosecution's side of the confidential funds charge. The defense holds 30 trial dates in total for its entire case.
The senator-judges vote on each article only after both camps are done, following formal offers of evidence and closing arguments.
Here is what to expect as the trial enters its third week:
Monday: Senators grill both camps on the bank subpoenas
Senator-judges will question the prosecution and defense — 10 minutes each per senator, capped at one hour per side — before voting on whether to subpoena the tax records, bank accounts, and Anti-Money Laundering Council documents of Duterte and her husband, Mans Carpio.
Malacañang earlier said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has received no request to authorize the opening of the sealed BIR documents.
Asked whether the panel would seek the president's authorization or leave the matter to the impeachment court, Ridon said the panel will wait for the court's ruling.
The prosecution's position is that a subpoena needs no presidential approval in the first place, he said, but if the court decides otherwise, "that is the time that we will probably have to comply."
Tuesday: Matibag closes out the threats article
Matibag takes the stand as the last prosecution witness on the grave threats charge.
Here, Ridon said the panel expects "full bureau reporting" or the NBI's complete investigation into the threats beyond the cybercrime findings that NBI regional director Jeremy Lotoc testified to earlier this week.
Wednesday: The money trail opens
If Matibag's examination does not run long, the confidential funds presentation starts Wednesday with three subpoenaed witnesses: House archives chief Marivic Pareja and former Land Bank branch managers Violeta Constantino and Nenita Camposano — the managers of the Shaw Boulevard and DepEd branches where the controversial funds moved.
Ridon gave a preview of what the court would see next week, such as the infamous acknowledgment receipts naming recipients such as Mary Grace Piatos; near-identical signatures across those receipts, and Philippine Statistics Authority records showing the named recipients "were never born, never married, never died" in the Philippines.
The prosecution also brushed off talk of a star witness when asked about Ramil Madriaga, who identified himself as a former aide and alleged bagman of Duterte.
Madriaga's testimony was key to the second attempt to impeach Duterte by the House as he claims to have personally disposed of and transfered P125 million in confidential OVP funds in under 24 hours.
"There is no star witness on any of the articles of impeachment. We will decide as we go along the trial because it is very important to first present the documents on confidential funds misuse," Ridon said.
