A COA auditor’s testimony became the backdrop for a courtroom clash between opposing counsels on the 15th day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial Wednesday, as tempers flared over how far cross-examination could go.
The friction surfaced while defense lawyer Kristine Ferrer questioned Xylene del Campo, a state auditor with the Commission on Audit Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office. Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan asked presiding officer Senator-judge Francis “Chiz” Escudero to keep the defense from cutting off the witness before she could finish her answers.
Ferrer pushed back, urging Escudero to require yes-or-no responses instead and pointing out that the prosecution could raise follow-ups on redirect. Kapunan rejected that framing, arguing that not every question lends itself to a simple binary answer.
The disagreement sharpened when Ferrer asserted her prerogative during cross. Kapunan shot back that the format still has boundaries. “Never mind if you’re on cross; there are limits to cross-examination. Misleading questions are not allowed in cross. I don’t think I need to lecture you [on] that,” she said. Ferrer insisted such questions were permissible.
Escudero stepped in, cautioning both sides against letting what he called a “seeming generational divide” drive up the temperature in the chamber. “Let’s keep it a notch lower,” he said.
Kapunan answered that restraint was exactly what she was exercising. “Your honor, please. I am preventing myself from giving her a spanking, your honor. That is what I have done in the generational divide,” she said in jest, prompting laughter across the courtroom.
The presiding officer reminded the two that both stand as members of the bar and would be treated as equals by the court. Both accepted the point, with Kapunan pledging to “henceforth behave.”
Ferrer tried to smooth things over by complimenting her opponent, calling Kapunan someone she deeply admires and counts among her idols—only to be halted mid-thought by both Escudero and Kapunan. “Let’s end here; it might sound like a eulogy, Your Honor. I’m still very much alive,” Kapunan quipped.
Ferrer returned to her earlier plea, expressing hope she could proceed through cross without interruption, and noted she had extended the same courtesy a day earlier. “Kahapon nga hindi ko siya kinukulit ‘di ba, kahit may mga questions na leading hindi naman allowed ‘yun sa direct examination. I respected her,” she said.
Escudero settled the matter by reworking the defense’s question to the auditor himself, clearing the way for the proceedings to continue.
