Rowegie Abanto

Defense lawyer Lindon Bacquel during the 20th day of the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte on Sept. 1, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

Defense lawyer Atty. Lindon Bacquel during the 20th day of the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, September 1, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

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VP Sara Impeachment

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<div><br></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178875554735520260901-senate-vp-sara-impeachment-day-20-MT7.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align: left;">Defense lawyer Lindon Bacquel during the 20th day of the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte on Sept. 1, 2026. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span>MANILA <strong>(UPDATE)</strong> &mdash; The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday agreed to stipulate that Col. Dennis Nolasco, the former deputy commander of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, &quot;received&quot; confidential funds from Edward Fajarda, a former special disbursing officer of the Department of Education.</div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/7/impeach-trial-day-22-deped-witness-needs-30-day-rest-psa-exec-to-testify-0925">Impeach Trial Day 22: DepEd witness needs 30-day rest, PSA exec to testify</a></div><p>Lindon Bacquel, one of Duterte&#39;s counsels, stipulated on the fact proposed by presiding officer Francis Escudero after objecting to the prosecution&#39;s suggestion to agree on its assertion that Fajarda &quot;turned over&quot; multimillion-peso confidential funds to Nolasco.</p><p>At Monday&#39;s impeachment proceeding, Baquel initially proposed to the prosecution to change the word &quot;turned over&quot; to &quot;disbursed,&quot; which private prosecutor Reynaldo Robles rejected because he said there was no proper evidence of payment and that the movement of funds was not a form of disbursement.</p><p>Baquel pointed out that Fajarda in his 2024 testimony at a hearing of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability used the word &quot;disbursed&quot; when referring to the transfer of funds to Nolasco.</p><p>But Robles said that Fajarda in that hearing also used the term &quot;turned over.&quot;</p><p>That led Escudero to revise the prosecution&#39;s request for stipulation to simply say that Nolasco in his capacity as a security officer &quot;received&quot; confidential funds from Fajarda, which the defense agreed to.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/9/7/live-updates-vice-president-sara-duterte-s-impeachment-trial-day-22-0955">LIVE UPDATES: Vice President Sara Duterte&#39;s Impeachment Trial (Day 22)</a></div><p>Escudero noted that the &quot;court will appreciate the distinction between turned over and disbursed at the proper time.&quot;</p><p>The Senate court tackles proposed stipulations from either party to skip debates on a particular point or issue and to speed up the impeachment trial, which is now on its 22nd day.</p><p>Later in the trial, the prosecution announced it decided to drop Fajarda from its witnesses after he suffered from a stroke, which was also the reason for his failure to appear before the impeachment court.</p><p>&quot;In view of the latest medical update and the confirmation by the doctors of the Senate, as a humanitarian consideration, we are going to dispense with the testimony of the witness, and we wish him well,&quot; Robles said, referring to Fajarda.</p><p>The vice president is fighting suspicions she misused her confidential funds totaling P612.5 million and she denies all allegations of irregularity.</p><p>The DepEd under Duterte had P112.5 million in confidential funds while the Office of the Vice President received P500 million in confidential funds.</p><p>Duterte led the DepEd from 2022 to 2024. <strong>&mdash; With a report from Jaehwa Bernardo, ABS-CBN News</strong></p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/29/ovp-s-p500m-bank-withdrawal-unusual-ex-landbank-exec-says-1225">OVP&#39;s cash withdrawals &#39;unusual&#39; &mdash; ex-bank managers</a></div><div><br></div><div><strong>WATCH:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ymjhaP702ik?&wmode=opaque&rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br></div>

<p>The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday agreed to stipulate that Col. Dennis Nolasco, the former deputy commander of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, "received" confidential funds from Edward Fajarda, a former DepEd special disbursing officer.</p>

The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday agreed to stipulate that Col. Dennis Nolasco, the former deputy commander of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, "received" confidential funds from Edward Fajarda, a former DepEd special disbursing officer.

Defense stipulates Nolasco 'received' confidential funds from Fajarda

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Defense stipulates Nolasco 'received' confidential funds from Fajarda

Rowegie Abanto,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 07, 2026 12:45 PM PHT

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Updated September 07, 2026 02:57 PM PHT

Read More:

Sara Duterte

Impeachment Trial

Senate Trial

Sara Duterte Trial

Senate

Impeachment

Lindon Bacquel

Reynaldo Robles

Dennis Nolasco

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