Impeachment Trial Day 14: Another COA auditor to testify against Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — On the 14th day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Tuesday, another Commission on Audit (COA) auditor is set to testify on the confidential funds she handled as vice president and Department of Education (DepEd) secretary from late 2022 through the third quarter of 2023.

COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office (COA-ICFAO) auditor Xylene del Campo is expected to return to the Senate session hall and continue the testimony on Duterte’s confidential funds that the House prosecution panel began during its direct examination.

As the trial continues, Del Campo is anticipated to testify among others the actions that COA-ICFAO had taken in relation to Duterte’s confidential funds after February 2024 when she was assigned to the matter.

READ: Sara Duterte impeachment trial: All you need to know

She is also expected to make observations on the over 4,000 acknowledgement receipts that the Office of the Vice President and the DepEd had submitted to COA-ICFAO upon the latter’s request for more documentary evidence on the two office’s use of confidential funds.

It is the same mountain of documents that put Del Campo’s testimony on hold last Wednesday after the defense refused to stipulate on the exhibits, thereby requiring the witness to examine each document one-by-one in open court.

Among the few that Del Campo has testified to, she said she became the auditor for COA-ICFAO looking into Duterte’s confidential funds in 2024, which was originally assigned to the witness beforehand, Roderick Wamil.

She also corroborated Wamil’s testimony that of the past three vice presidents since 2014, COA-ICFAO had only audited the liquidation of Duterte’s P612.5 million in confidential funds from late 2022 to most of 2023.

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