Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega V. Photo courtesy of PNA.
Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega said Wednesday that senator-judge Imee Marcos appeared more intent on emphasizing her position than hearing former Commission on Audit auditor Roderick Wamil’s full explanation during Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Ortega said Marcos had not yet crossed the line from impartial questioning into openly acting as counsel for Duterte, but he described parts of her interpellation as a monologue.
He said Wamil struggled to complete his answers as Marcos repeatedly stressed that former Vice President Jejomar Binay also received confidential fund allocations in 2014.
Marcos questioned Wamil’s earlier testimony that Duterte was the only vice president whose confidential fund use he had audited, citing a Special Allotment Release Order showing a Php 6-million allocation for Binay’s office.
Prosecution legal spokesperson Benjamin Tolosa said the document established only that funds had been released and did not prove that Binay’s office spent or liquidated the amount.
Wamil sought to distinguish the release of an allotment from the submission of liquidation reports, but Marcos interrupted him several times during the exchange.
Marcos also argued that Duterte should not be considered the accountable officer because special disbursing officers handled the payments.
Wamil replied that Joint Circular No. 2015-01 still placed responsibility on the agency head to oversee confidential operations. His testimony forms part of the prosecution’s case on the alleged misuse of confidential funds in the OVP and the Department of Education.
