By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA — The Senate impeachment court on Wednesday allowed a defense witness to testify on corporate matters involving companies linked to Vice President Sara Duterte, while limiting her ability to invoke attorney-client privilege.
Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero ruled that Atty. Suzette Balucanag-Punay, corporate counsel of two companies, would be presumed to have authority to testify and that attorney-client privilege had been waived by the corporations.
The ruling followed objections from private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan, who questioned the witness’s authority to represent the companies without written board resolutions or secretary’s certificates.
Escudero clarified that the presumed waiver covered the corporations but did not automatically extend to individual shareholders whom Punay separately represented.
Senator-Judge Francis Pangilinan sought clarification before allowing the testimony to proceed.
Kapunan, meanwhile, reserved the prosecution’s right to cross-examine Punay on the alleged absence of Duterte’s ownership or capital contribution in the companies.
The ruling does not resolve the underlying allegations of unexplained wealth, which remain subject to the court’s evaluation of the evidence.
