House prosecution panel says it has 25 witnesses for VP Sara Duterte impeachment trial

The lead prosecutor for the House impeachment prosecution panel today revealed that they have listed 25 witnesses who may be presented during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville Luistro said the list of witnesses has been finalized, including hostile witnesses, and that they will submit it to the Senate impeachment court.

"Well, for purposes of our submission during the pre-trial conference, yes we have. And as to the number of witnesses which we intend to present during the trial, it is an average of 25 witnesses. But that is for the four articles already," Luistro said in an online interview.

"You can expect ng pinakamarami diyan, of course, is confidential fund and unexplained wealth. Kasi ito talaga, voluminous. Perhaps you can also include the bribery, no? For threat, there will be few witnesses only," she added.

When asked if there will be witnesses who will be presented for more than one article of impeachment, Luistro replied, "I don't think naman na may overlapping kasi magkakaiba naman sila."

"For confidential fund, ito yung for OVP and DepEd. Sa bribery, ito yung mga envelopes. Perhaps kung may overlapping man, there will be very, very few. And this must be the hostile witnesses, which means that people who are aligned to the position of the respondent, vice president. For unexplained wealth, they are entirely different witnesses. For grave threat, entirely different witnesses. If ever there will be overlapping, very, very few, but that is for confidential fund and bribery only. Because this concerns the same offices, the Office of the Vice President and the office of the Department of Education," Luistro further explained.

The lead prosecutor, however, declined to name the hostile witnesses or say how many they are but described them as, "the same people we presented during the Committee on Good Government hearing, yung mga taong involved sa utilization ng confidential funds, as well as the distribution of the alleged payola envelopes."

Luistro also confirmed that included in the 25 witnesses are Ramil Madriaga, who claimed to be Vice President Duterte's former aide and bagman, and former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

She also stated that several bank officials are included in the said list.

"Well, the bank officials are included already in the approximate 25 witnesses. Only that, hindi pa namin alam kung sino ba yung mga bank officials na yan. But we will be making a reservation as to the bank officials," Luistro explained.

"We have to see also the progress of the trial. Kung kailangan pa ba o hindi na. Kung enough na ba yung few na witnesses or kailangan iprisinta lahat. Depende pa rin sa progress ng trial," she added

Luistro said the list of 25 witnesses is "final insofar as our preparation is concerned, but you know what, until they are presented, we always have the option of whether they will be presented or not."

Assignments

Luistro also disclosed changes in the assignment of prosecutors assigned to lead the presentation of the Articles of Impeachment.

Luistro was originally the lead prosecutor for the article on the alleged misuse of confidential funds.

"Well, we made a little adjustment doon sa assignment of team leader. We resolved that I should be focusing on being the lead prosecutor. And that is why I yielded to Cong Keith Flores as one of the new, as one of the team leaders of these articles. So for the confidential fund, the team leader now is Congressman Joel Chua and then bribery will be led by Congressman Keith Flores," she said in an online interview.

When asked why she had to give up being the lead prosecutor for the article on confidential funds, Luistro replied, "Because I am actually involved in four articles. As a matter of fact, I am attending in all meetings, in all workshops, and in all mocks, regardless of which article is that. So we wanted somebody to focus really and take care of each article."

Rep. Terry Ridon remains the lead prosecutor for the article of impeachment on the alleged unexplained wealth of the vice president, while Rep. Lorenz Defensor is still lead prosecutor for the article on threats against the president, the first lady, and the former House Speaker.

The legislator from the second district of Batangas also revealed that aside from mock trials, the House Prosecution Panel is also conducting workshops.

"With respect to our preparation, we have a lot of readings to do. We are doing workshops on the presentation of evidence, and we are doing mock trial," Luistro said.—LDF, GMA News