By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution on Tuesday presented a former Land Bank of the Philippines branch executive who testified that she supervised the encashment of four government checks worth a combined P500 million, transactions now under scrutiny in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Taking the witness stand before the Senate impeachment court, retired LandBank department manager Violeta Constantino testified that the four checks, each valued at P125 million, were processed through the bank’s Shaw Boulevard Branch during her tenure as its head.
Constantino, who spent 32 years with the state-run bank before retiring in January 2024, said she served as department manager of the Shaw Boulevard Branch from May 2017 until her retirement, overseeing all major banking operations, including deposits, withdrawals, account openings and high-value check encashments.
The prosecution identified the checks as payable to Gina F. Acosta, the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) Special Disbursing Officer. According to prosecutors, the checks were dated Dec. 20, 2022; Jan. 31, 2023; Apr. 18, 2023; and July 13, 2023, and were funded by the National Treasury before being charged against the OVP’s account.
Constantino told the impeachment court that she personally supervised the encashment of the four checks, explaining that the transactions fell under her responsibility as branch manager.
The prosecution said the witness’ testimony was intended to establish the processing and release of the funds, which form part of Article I of the impeachment complaint alleging irregularities in the use of confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President.
During the proceedings, the prosecution sought to have the four checks identified by the witness. The defense, however, agreed to dispense with further authentication, informing the impeachment court that it would not dispute either Constantino’s ability to identify the documents or the authenticity of the checks themselves.
The defense likewise acknowledged that the four checks had already been admitted as common documentary exhibits by both parties, allowing the proceedings to move directly to the substance of the witness’ testimony.
The testimony marks one of the prosecution’s key efforts to establish the movement of confidential funds from the National Treasury to the Office of the Vice President and the subsequent encashment of the checks through the government-owned bank.
Constantino is expected to face cross-examination by the defense as the Senate impeachment court continues hearing evidence on the first article of impeachment against Vice President Duterte.
ia/xf
