Only VP Sara Duterte can explain accusations against her – Chua

Vice President Sara Duterte arrives at the Quezon City Hall of Justice on Saturday, Sept.. 5, 2026, to post bail following an arrest warrant issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98. The warrant stems from three counts of grave threats filed against her. —INQUIRER file photo by Grig C. Montegrande MANILA, Philippines — Only Vice President Sara Duterte can explain the alleged misuse of her confidential funds and other accusations against her, Manila Rep. Joel Chua said in a press conference on Tuesday. “We believe that no person can best explain each article [of impeachment] other than our vice president,” Chua, a member of the House prosecution panel, said in Filipino. On Tuesday, the prosecution informed the impeachment court of its plan to present Duterte as a hostile witness after completing its evidence presentation on all impeachment articles. Article continues after this advertisement READ: Tulfos prefer Duterte to testify at her impeachment trial Chua recalled that witnesses on the alleged misuse of confidential funds pointed to the Vice President as the only one who knew where the huge sum of money was spent. “If you recall, like for example, the confidential funds, the witnesses presented all said they did not know how the confidential funds were used,” he said. He was referring to the special disbursing officers of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), which Duterte headed concurrently up to 2024, who testified that they turned over the funds to their respective agencies’ security officers. “Even the SDOs who should have known where the disbursement would go did not know to whom the money was disbursed. What they said was they gave it to the security officers based on the order of the head of the agency,” Chua said. Article continues after this advertisement “So with that, only VP Sara can answer the question being asked not only by us but by all people,” he added. So he said the plan to have the vice president subpoenaed as a hostile witness was aimed at giving her a chance to explain all the allegations against her since she had been claiming she did nothing wrong and that the impeachment trial was just political harassment. Article continues after this advertisement READ: Ortega: Expect the unexpected if Duterte is subpoenaed He said the senator-judges and the people in general have been waiting to hear her explanation. Chua also pointed out that the vice president never answered the allegations and did not show up in several House hearings on the impeachment complaints against her. Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful. However, Chua emphasized that whether Duterte would attend her trial or not, the prosecution remained confident in the strength of its evidence, /atm