VP Sara’s DepEd SDO hospitalized for stroke; Senate orders validation of report

August 24, 2026

By ABOGADO.COM.PH Staff

Edward Fajarda, who served as Department of Education special disbursing officer when Vice President Sara Duterte was its secretary, has been hospitalized due to a stroke, according to Presiding Officer Sen. Francis Escudero.

Fajarda was earlier subpoenaed as one of the prosecution’s witnesses in Duterte’s impeachment trial.

Escudero said Fajarda’s counsel from the Gabriel Mendoza Law Offices submitted a letter and Fajarda’s medical certificate seeking to be excused from attending the impeachment trial on August 24 to 26 because of his hospital confinement after suffering from a stroke.

Escudero took note of the letter, but also said that before the Impeachment Court excuses Fajarda, the Senate’s Medical and Dental Bureau is directed to verify the medical findings with his physicians.

Lead prosecutor Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro asked for a copy of the medical certificate and also said the prosecution expresses its complete understanding and concern should the medical condition be related to the ongoing impeachment trial.

Luistro said the prosecution plans to present him as witness after the two-week rest period ordered by his physician.

Fajarda previously testified before the House of Representatives that the DepEd’s confidential funds were given to a security officer that Duterte had designated.