By Ellson Quismorio
The Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is set to intensify next week as two of her former aides who handled the disbursement of the controversial ₱612.5 ‑million confidential funds are scheduled to testify.
Lead prosecutor Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro informed the Senate impeachment court that former special disbursing officers Gina Acosta of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Edward Fajarda of the Department of Education (DepEd) will take the witness stand.
Duterte simultaneously headed both the OVP and DepEd from 2022 to 2024. Under Article I of the impeachment charges, prosecutors allege “systematic misuse” of the confidential funds between December 2022 and the third quarter of 2023 — an act they say constitutes culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust.
Senate impeachment court Presiding Officer Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero ordered the issuance of subpoenas ad testificandum and, where necessary, subpoenas duces tecum for Acosta and Fajarda.
He also directed subpoenas for Commission on Audit (COA) Supervising Auditor Celine May del Campo and House Legislative Information Resources Management Department Director Marivic Pareja.
Del Campo, who began testifying on day 13 of the trial, is expected to resume her testimony next week.
The funds under scrutiny include ₱500 million released to the OVP for late 2022 and the first three quarters of 2023, and ₱112.5 million released to the DepEd in 2023 while Duterte was education secretary.
Earlier testimony from Land Bank officials confirmed that Acosta encashed four treasury checks worth ₱125 million each for the OVP, while Fajarda encashed three treasury checks worth ₱37.5 million each for the DepEd.
COA auditor Roderick Wamil later identified both as the officers who received the confidential funds and submitted liquidation documents.
Their upcoming testimony follows questions raised during Wednesday’s hearing on whether the special disbursing officers — rather than Duterte herself — should be held accountable.
Prosecutor Rep. Joel Chua clarified that under government accounting rules, the accountable officer is the head of agency: “Sa OVP, ang Vice President; at doon sa DepEd, ang secretary of education.”
