Retired Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang answers questions from defense counsel Mark Vinluan during cross-examination on Day 24 of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. Cabotaje-Tang is the House prosecution’s first witness under Article II, which covers allegations involving unexplained wealth, SALN disclosures and continued business interests.
Vice President Sara Duterte’s lawyers turned their first cross-examination under Article II of her impeachment trial toward the credibility and political neutrality of retired Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang on Monday.
Defense counsel Mark Vinluan asked Cabotaje-Tang whether she harbored any opposition to former President Rodrigo Duterte after noting that she had sought appointment to the Supreme Court during his administration but was not selected. Cabotaje-Tang denied being “anti-Duterte” and said choosing members of the high court was the former president’s prerogative.
The defense then brought Vice President Duterte into the questioning. Asked whether she liked the Vice President, Cabotaje-Tang said she did not know her personally.
Vinluan also asked whether the former justice was a “Kakampink,” referring to the term widely associated with supporters of former Vice President Leni Robredo’s 2022 presidential campaign. Cabotaje-Tang rejected the characterization and said she had always been apolitical.
Her relationship with House prosecutor Chel Diokno was likewise raised after the defense asked whether the two were friends. Cabotaje-Tang disputed the suggestion, saying they had previously been adversaries in Amparo cases before the Court of Appeals.
The questions followed an unsuccessful attempt by Duterte’s lawyers to prevent Cabotaje-Tang from taking the witness stand. The Senate impeachment court allowed her presentation Monday, with Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero stressing that her testimony could be challenged through cross-examination and would not automatically bind the senator-judges.
Cabotaje-Tang was presented as the prosecution’s first witness as the trial moved to Article II, which contains allegations involving unexplained wealth, false Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and continued business interests. Prosecutors earlier told the court that her testimony was intended to explain public accountability standards and how unexplained or improperly accumulated wealth is assessed.
Her judicial background predates the current impeachment proceedings. Cabotaje-Tang served as a Sandiganbayan justice before becoming the anti-graft court’s presiding justice. Under the Constitution, appointments to the judiciary are made by the president from nominees submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council, underscoring why failure to secure a Supreme Court appointment by itself does not establish political bias. The Supreme Court has described the president’s choice among qualified JBC nominees as an exercise of discretionary appointing power.
The defense’s questions do not establish that Cabotaje-Tang holds a particular political affiliation. Her credibility and the weight ultimately given to her testimony remain matters for the impeachment court to assess alongside the evidence presented by both sides.
