Prosecution miss? Pia Cayetano hits questioning on support for sports

SENATOR-JUDGE. Senator Pia Cayetano during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Pia Cayetano's Facebook page

During the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Senator-judge Pia Cayetano expresses 'disdain' over the prosecution's questions for defense witness Chadrin Parian

AT A GLANCE

• During the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Senator Pia Cayetano expressed her disdain towards the prosecution's questioning of a defense witness, Chadrin Parian, regarding a credit card charge incurred by Duterte's husband.
• Cayetano defended the importance of supporting young athletes and criticized the notion that public officials should avoid spending on sports due to potential scrutiny, while prosecutors emphasized the need for public officials to avoid ostentatious displays of wealth.

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At the ongoing impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, an emotional Cayetano took a jab at the prosecution over its line of questioning of a defense witness who is a parent of a young athlete.

Cayetano, an athlete and sports advocate, appeared to take personally the questions of House prosecutor Reynaldo Robles for witness Chadrin Parian, expressing her “disdain” over the line of questioning.

“I will not hide my disdain. I cannot,” Cayetano told Robles.

Parian, whose children belong to the same basketball team as Duterte’s husband, Manases Carpio, testified during the trial on Thursday, November 12, to explain the P256,000 credit card charge Carpio incurred at a Nike store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Parian said Carpio had voluntarily offered to pay for the team’s shoes after their international competition.

Robles scrutinized Parian’s explanation, asking whether the witness considered it appropriate for a relative of a public official to spend more than P250,000 on a single purchase, given the constitutional provision directing public officials and their families to lead modest lives.

“My children were 6 and 9 years old when I served my first term as senator. If this happened then, you would impress upon me that, as a law-abiding citizen, I should not put my kids in sports because I will be criticized,” an emotional Cayetano said.

House prosecutors, in separate media interviews, repeatedly clarified that they had no objection to supporting young athletes, stressing that this was not the issue being examined in the impeachment trial.

“That is not the issue. The issue here is our public officials and their relatives should set an example and shy away from what the law calls as ‘ostentatious’ display of wealth, as well as extravagant expenses,” Robles told reporters.

The expenses of public officials, including senators themselves, who support Filipino athletes — including those who end up competing in the Palarong Pambansa, however, hit a sympathetic nerve even among majority senators. Philippine sports, after all, has not been getting a generous share of the budget pie. Was that a miss on the part of the prosecution?

To refocus the questioning, Senator-judge Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri urged the impeachment court to move beyond discussions of credit card expenditures and dwell instead on other substantive issues, including alleged remittances from China to Calle88, a company linked to Duterte.

The credit card purchases are part of lawyer Alex Cabrera’s financial forensic report, which alleged that Duterte and Carpio had accumulated P817 million in undeclared wealth from 2022 to 2025.

“Let’s move on and listen to other witnesses that can give us more substantive answers to the case at hand,” said Zubiri.

Cayetano managed to call attention to the plight of Filipino athletes and the need for greater government support, but the impeachment court’s focus is on the allegations against Duterte. – Rappler.com