Duterte impeachment: More teams, pretrial hours granted

MANILA, Philippines — The House prosecution team for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment case has confirmed that its requests for longer pre-trial conference hours and additional evidence-marking teams have been granted.

In separate interviews on Wednesday, Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima and private lawyer Jay Tolosa said the Senate Impeachment Court granted the two requests.

The court has assigned four marking teams to documents related to Article I, which accuses Duterte of misusing confidential funds (CF) allocated to her offices, and two teams to Article II, which concerns the Vice President’s alleged unexplained wealth.

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“So today we were also allowed to work until 7:00 p.m. … four marking teams for the confidential funds and two marking teams for the unexplained wealth,” Tolosa said in an interview with House reporters.

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De Lima said the same during an interview at the Senate, where the pre-trial conference is being held.

According to de Lima, it appears “the process will move a bit faster.”

“So four marking teams for Article I and two marking teams for Article II, so they are moving faster and they added working hours, from originally from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., work was allowed to run from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.,” she added.

On Tuesday, prosecution team members Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro and Manila Rep. Joel Chua confirmed that they formally asked the Senate Impeachment Court for longer working hours, additional teams, and extra days to finish the marking of evidence and eventually conclude the pre-trial.

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READ: Duterte impeachment: Prosecution seeks more pre-trial days

Chua said that since Senate work ends on Thursday, they are asking that the pre-trial conference be extended to Friday and Saturday, as there are over 4,000 pieces of documentary evidence alone for the alleged confidential fund misuse issue.

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He also said additional teams are needed since the defense panel did not agree to their proposal that common evidence, or similar documents presented by both the prosecution team and Duterte’s lawyers, should be examined and marked jointly.

Chua explained this means they would have to do the process twice for each piece of evidence presented by both prosecution and the defense — from being analyzed by lawyers, to the provision of comments, and the certification by both panels.

READ: Luistro: Pre-trial could’ve been faster had defense OK’d joint marking

If there are over 4,000 documents — as Luistro said that there are around 1,900 documents evidencing payment (DEPs) for the Department of Education (DepEd) and over 2,000 DEPs for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) — Chua said this process will be done 4,000 times.

On Tuesday also, Luistro and defense lawyer Michael Poa said that it appears the pre-trial conference would not be finished on Wednesday or Thursday.

Luistro said that while everything went well on Monday, there are a lot of documents that the prosecution and the defense have to check separately.

Luistro also said that the process could have been expedited if the defense panel allowed the joint marking of common documents and evidence, but Poa said they are just “being very careful with how we do things.”

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

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

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

Despite the delays, prosecution members believe they are still on track to start the trial by July 6, as initially stated by the Senate leadership.

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

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The articles were hinged on Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds lodged within the DepEd and OVP, the amassing of unexplained wealth disproportionate to her income, the bribery of DepEd officials using monetary gifts or payments, and threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. /mcm