Luistro, Poa admit: Pre-trial not yet near its ending

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyers from both the public prosecution panel and the defense panel have separately admitted that the pre-trial stage for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment proceedings might not yet end on Tuesday, as both camps have to mark a voluminous amount of documents.

In an ambush interview at the Senate, before the third day of the pre-trial conference, lead public prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said that while everything went well on Monday, there are many documents that the prosecution and the defense must review separately.

“It went well, except that there are really a lot of documents that need to be marked because that is the requirement of the rule in this pre-trial conference. But we will be continuing today and we hope that it will be finished at the soonest possible time. Although it’s quite hard to finish it today,” she said.

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When asked whether the pre-trial conference might reach Thursday, Luistro said it’s a wait-and-see situation because the prosecution has presented thousands of documents.

READ: Defense refuses House prosecutors’ ‘common markings’ request in pretrial

“Well let’s wait and see, it’s because it needs to be checked by the defense every piece of evidence before we are able to mark and for documents evidence in payments alone it’s thousands,” she said.

“Actually, we are hoping to finish it at the soonest possible time. However, the reality is, we have voluminous documents […] notwithstanding the fact that there are common documents, and notwithstanding the fact that we requested for marking of common documents, one document by prosecution and by defense, The defense did not agree to that,” she added.

Lawyer Michael Poa, a member and spokesperson of the defense panel, shared the same observations as Luistro.

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“We are very hopeful that we will finish this, but with the huge amount of documents, which is normal for a case such as this, we expect that it may not be finished within the day, it might reach until tomorrow or even Thursday, which is the original schedule of the pre-trial,” he said.

Earlier, the third day of the pre-trial conference for Duterte’s impeachment trial began, with both the prosecution and the defense continuing to mark evidence for Articles I and II of the Articles of Impeachment, which allege that the Vice President misused confidential funds and amassed unexplained wealth.

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These are the same articles tackled on Monday, but according to the impeachment clerk of court and Senate Secretary Renato Bantug, the defense and prosecution together submitted around 4,000 documents for the first article alone.

READ: Duterte impeachment: Pretrial Day 3 to mark evidence on funds, wealth

Last June 9, the Senate Impeachment Court issued a notice inviting the parties to the pre-trial conference, which started last June 18.

According to the notice, the pre-trial conference is held to resolve the following matters before the trial proper:

Stipulation of facts and simplification of issues

Marking of documentary or real evidence and waiver of objections or admissions on evidence

Number and identification of witnesses

Setting of trial dates

The proposed sequence for the presentation of evidence and possible modification of the order of trial

Such other matters as will promote a fair and expeditious trial of the case

According to the notice, the pre-trial conference proceedings will not be open to the media or the public, to give both parties and their lawyers freedom to attain the above-mentioned objectives.

READ: Senate invites parties, sets June 18 impeachment pre-trial conference

“To allow the parties and/or their counsel the widest freedom and latitude towards attaining the objectives of pre-trial, the Pre-Trial Conference proceedings shall not be open to the media or public,” the notice stated.

“The parties are required to file with the Clerk of the Impeachment Court and serve upon the adverse party their respective Pre-Trial Briefs via personal delivery or official electronic mail no later than June 15, 2026,” it added.

Last May 11, Duterte was impeached for a second time after 257 House lawmakers voted in favor of adopting House Resolution (HR) No. 989 which contains the Articles of Impeachment. Only 25 members voted against it, while nine abstained.

According to HR No. 989, the two complaints’ allegations were consolidated into four grounds:

culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust through the systematic liquidation misuse, misappropriation, and irregular of confidential funds amounting to P500 million under the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P112.5 million under the Department of Education (DepEd);

culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust when Duterte amassed unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings during her incumbency as a public official;

bribery, graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust when she gave monetary gifts or payments to DepEd officials to induce the violation and circumvention of procurement and other related laws; and

culpable violation of the Constitution, high crimes, and betrayal of public trust by contracting for the assassination of the President, the First Lady, and the former speaker of the House, by making grave threats, and by actively inciting sedition against the republic. /das

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