Luistro: Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial could run past September

MANILA, Philippines — Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said on Monday that Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial may extend beyond September, as a spokesman for the House prosecution team noted the rival camps have filed competing trial schedules.

In a media briefing, Luistro said her earlier estimate that the trial could wrap by September no longer holds due to the volume of witnesses and evidence both sides plan to present.

“If I would consider the number of witnesses and exhibits of both parties, it seems unlikely that the trial can be finished by September,” she said in mixed English and Filipino.

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“Nevertheless, the number of trial dates for the prosecution and the defense is subject to the discretion of the impeachment court,” she added.

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Lawyer Benjamin Tolosa Jr., the new private prosecutor and spokesman for the House impeachment team, said the prosecution has asked for 62 trial dates to present its evidence, while Duterte’s defense counsel is seeking 30 dates.

But he said it will depend on how the trial unfolds whether prosecutors will need all 62 days to present their case.

“If the court would allow us to present two witnesses per day, then it will be shorter,” Tolosa said in the same briefing. “It will depend on how it will actually unfold during the trial.”

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He also questioned the gap between the defense team’s request for 30 trial dates and the 97 witnesses it listed for presentation.

“Maybe it’s an indication that there’s really no intention to produce all of those witnesses,” he said.

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Tolosa also said the prosecution and defense teams share 51 witnesses, including officials from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), as he noted that Duterte’s defense counsel listed 35 unnamed witnesses, while the prosecution panel directly identified the officials it wants examined.

“For the common witnesses, there are 16 named common witnesses and there are 35 unnamed,” he said, explaining that Duterte’s impeachment defense lawyers left them unspecified,” such as “six or seven representatives from the OVP and three from BIR.”

He also noted that of the 276 pieces of evidence and exhibits listed by the prosecution, 248 overlap with Duterte’s defense team.

Duterte, whose trial is set to start on July 6, remains a popular political figure with a fiercely loyal support base despite facing accusations of corruption and constitutional violations that have fueled impeachment efforts against her.

She was indicted of those charges contained in the articles of impeachment, which accuse her of the following:

• Culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust through the alleged systematic misuse, misappropriation, and irregular use of confidential funds amounting to P500 million under the Office of the Vice President and P112.5 million under the Department of Education;

• Culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust for allegedly amassing unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings during her incumbency as a public official, and for failing to disclose all assets in her statements of net worth for 2022, 2023, and 2024;

• Bribery, graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust for allegedly giving monetary gifts or payments to Department of Education officials to induce violations of and circumvent procurement and related laws; and

• Culpable violation of the Constitution, high crimes, and betrayal of public trust for allegedly plotting the assassination of the president, the first lady, and the former House speaker should she be killed too, and making grave threats, and actively inciting sedition against the Republic. /das

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