In his questioning of the prosecution witness, Senator Judge Robin Padilla asked the auditor whether he knew that most of the fantabulous amounts requested by Vice President Sara Duterte for release were disbursed on the anniversaries of the New People’s Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines. The good senator then alluded to the possibility that Sara Duterte contributed to stopping armed attacks by the CPP-NPA by giving those public funds.

The auditor, who is also a lawyer, said that he did not know and probably did not care. What’s important for him is whether the Vice President’s office followed the law.
Satisfied, Padilla left the podium, implying that the auditor lacked the information because he had not been given security clearance.

Padilla went back to his chair, smiling and proud of himself, probably thinking he had helped his best friend, the Vice President, score pogie points before his senator judges’ colleagues.

If Padilla is to be believed, then maybe anyone would be so kind as to file a case against the Vice President for sedition due to aiding and abetting an enemy? The CPP-NPA is a declared enemy of the Republic of the Philippines. If Padilla’s revelation is true, then the VP is liable for committing a grave offense against our Constitution and laws.

That’s the problem, and we Filipinos have a saying about this: to justify the obvious infidelity committed by the Vice President in her custody of public funds, her supporters raise serious, and sometimes stupid, reasons like this.

Nagkanda lubid-lubid na ang alibi.

One of my former professors, Dean Roy, says the impeachment trial is over. The prosecution has already established its case. It is just a matter of time before the impeachment trial declares the vice president’s seat vacant.

I also pity the young defense lawyers involved in this trial. They seemed spent, trying very hard to defend an indefensible act by their client. They already threw every legal tactic they could find just to stop the prosecution’s onslaught. In the end, they looked shell-shocked.