Chiz rules prosecution should finish presenting evidence before defense

Senate impeachment court Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Wednesday ruled that the presentation of evidence by the prosecution should be finished first before the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte presents her defense.

Escudero made the decision in response to the suggestion of Senator Bam Aquino IV for the implementation of presenting evidence on the part of both the prosecution and the defense on a per Article of impeachment basis rather than the prosecution finishing all the presentation of their evidence for all four Articles of impeachment first before the defense team is given a chance to rebut it.

Escudero cited that his decision is in line with the precedent of the 2012 impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona, the only impeachment trial that reached verdict day, and the condition that the Senate impeachment court will be amenable with Aquino’s suggestion, provided that the both the prosecution and the defense agrees with him.

“Sometime last week, the presiding officer, based on some of the suggestions by some of the senator judges, called for a sidebar with the lead prosecutor and the lead counsel for respondent to throw a question at them if they're open to changing the procedure to the one suggested in open court by Senator Bam Aquino," Escudero said.

"However, subject to one condition, that both parties should be agreeable. We are in receipt of a manifestation from the panel of prosecutors and the response of the respondents, wherein it is clear based on your written manifestations that there is no agreement between the two parties,” he added.

“Therefore, we shall proceed as originally ruled by the chair [that we finish the presentation of the prosecution’s evidence first]. We shall finish with the presentation of the evidence in chief of the prosecutors for all of the articles of impeachment that they will not withdraw, I'm saying that only because of the Corona impeachment experience we had wherein some Articles [of Impeachment] were withdrawn by the prosecution,” Escudero, who also served as a Senator-judge in the 2012 Corona impeachment trial, explained.

After the prosecution rests its case, Escudero said the Senate impeachment court “will hear the evidence in chief of the respondent for all the Articles of Impeachment that presented by the prosecution.” —VAL, GMA News