Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 43: Mans Carpio's spending scrutinized, 'BP Inday' shows up

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The 43rd day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte lasted less than three hours, but it did not make the proceedings any less intense.

The 43rd day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte lasted less than three hours, but it did not make the proceedings any less intense.

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero opened the proceedings by calling on his fellow Senator judges to exercise restraint over the witnesses’ unresponsive answers, saying that these do not automatically constitute grounds for contempt.

“The Chair wishes to emphasize that an answer which may be unsatisfactory is not inherently contemptible. Supreme Court cases have cautioned courts to use the power of contempt with the highest restraint,” the presiding officer said.

Vice President Duterte's defense team then decided not to present a witness from the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) for her impeachment trial.

This developed after defense counsel Michael Poa said Atty. Paul Roderick Ysmael, senior vice president of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), won’t stand as a defense witness anymore because it was already established that Poa’s letter to the BPI inquiring about the bank accounts of the Vice President and/or her husband, Manases Carpio, is authentic.

This meant the defense dropped all 16 scheduled witnesses who are bank officials.

But for the House prosecution panel, the defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte decided against fielding a BPI witness because there is no guarantee that the witness’ testimony will favor the Vice President.

The first witness for the defense on Day 43, Atty. Anel Antero, a close friend of the Vice President and her husband, testified that he was with Carpio and their nine other law school friends when they dined in Ginza and used Carpio’s credit card to pay for the bill.

Antero said he later reimbursed Carpio with 40,000 Japanese Yen or around P16,000.

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