Fox Silic–? Sara can’t comment on planned AI hub
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte appeared to have no clue about the planned Pax Silica artificial intelligence hub in New Clark City despite it be- ing a hotly debated national issue in recent weeks.
In a video from the Office of the Vice President (OVP), Duterte was seen being inter- viewed by supporters in The Hague. When asked what she thought of Pax Silica, she seemed to draw a blank.
“What? Fox Silic – Fox Sil- ic?” Duterte muttered, before the vloggers corrected her.
“Do you know anything about…?” Duterte was asked.
“I have no… I cannot comment on that,” she replied.
The Vice President is still out of the country as her impeachment trial entered its 10th day yesterday.
Impeachment trial
The House prosecution panel has yet to establish that the checks encashed by the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd) involved confidential funds, with the impeachment court’s spokes- man saying that succeedingwitnesses would likely address the issue.
Speaking to reporters after the day’s proceedings, impeachment court spokesman
Reginald Tongol said the testi- monies presented so far were limited to the withdrawal and encashment of checks and did not establish the purpose of the funds.
The clarification came after the impeachment court began hearing evidence under Article I of the Articles of Im- peachment against Duterte, which involves the alleged misuse of confidential funds.
During yesterday’s impeachment hearing, defense lawyer Michael Poa opposed the opening statement of House prosecutor and ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima for making conclusions about the case.
Presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero warned De Lima “to avoid conclusions of both fact and law,” before later stopping her and ordering her statement to be struck from the record.
Meanwhile, the defense justified why the DepEd official who encashed the P112.5- million checks did not use the main door of Landbank and instead went out through the fire exit.
During the cross-examination of prosecution witness Nenita Camposano, Poa noted that the LandBank branch was attached to the DepEd compound. – Bella Cariaso
- Latest
- Trending