VP Sara's defense team no longer presenting BPI official

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Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google. The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday decided not to present a witness…

The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday decided not to present a witness from Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) for her impeachment trial.

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 wrote a letter to the BPI about the bank accounts of the Vice President and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

“The reason being that the only purpose for this witness was to authenticate my letter, Your Honor, and I believe the records would bear that during interpellation, I was already asked about the letter, and I have admitted in open court that I wrote that letter,” Poa told the Senate impeachment court.

Ysmael was supposed to bring and identify certified true copies of the letter-requests of the Vice President and/or her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, through counsel Poa, Himala and Virtucio Law, in 2026.

“It would be in the interest of time that we just dispensed with this witness, since this is only for the purpose of authentication. And that letter of mine has already been marked as well as an exhibit for the defense,” Poa added.

Prosecution witness Marwin Galvez, division head for central Manila branches of BPI, earlier testified that a joint bank account under the name of Vice President and her father was used to purchase a P16-million manager's check for businessman Sammy Uy.

Private prosecutor James Ali responded by asking the Senate impeachment court if the prosecution can put forward manifestations on documents that were subpoenaed by the court for the testimony of BPI official Ysmael.

Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero, however, denied Ali’s request given that the prosecution had already rested its case.

The defense earlier dropped 15 bank official witnesses, saying it was "in the interest of time." —VAL, GMA News

Opening of the article, excerpted from GMA News. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.