No final decision yet to drop bribery article in Sara Duterte impeachment trial, says Tolosa

The House prosecution panel has yet to make a final decision whether or not it will be dropping the bribery charge under Article III of the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte.

At a news forum on Saturday, House prosecution legal spokesperson Atty. Jay Tolosa said the prosecutors are still deliberating on the matter as they consider both the sentiments of the senator-judges and the public to expedite the impeachment proceedings and not let it continue up to next year.

“To be clear, wala pa namang ganung pinal na desisyon kasama po yan sa pinaguusapan, pinagdedesisyunan ng panel of prosecutors sa ngayon,” Tolosa said.

“Sabin naman natin mula noon kaisa kami doon sa hangad na as much as possible i-expedite natin ‘tong proceedings,” he said.

(To be clear, there has been no final decision, it is included in the discussions of the panel right now. We've said that since the beginning, we are one in the objective of having the proceedings expedited.)

The Article III refers to the allegation that the Vice President must be impeached for committing bribery by giving monetary gifts or payments to Department of Education (DepEd) officials to induce the violation and circumvention of procurement and other related laws.

So far, the prosecution has presented Article IV —which alleges that Duterte committed an impeachable offense by contracting for the assassination of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and former speaker of the House and incumbent Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez, by making grave threats, and by actively inciting sedition against the republic— and Article I which alleges that the Vice President committed an impeachable offense due to systematic misuse, misappropriation, and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to P500 million released to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P112.5 million released to the DepEd during her tenure as Education chief.

“Dalawa na lang ang matitira bribery and unexplained wealth (Only two remains, bribery and unexplained wealth),” Tolosa said.

He said that the House prosecution team has already collated records from the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Anti-Money Laundering Council for the Article II, which argues that Duterte amassed unexplained wealth.

“Meron tayong nakuhang maraming dokumento na sa tingin namin talagang importanteng maipakita to sa proceedings and it will go to waste kung ‘yun naman ang hindi namin mapu-pursue,” Tolosa said.

(We have many documents which we think are really important and it will go to waste if we cannot pursue it.)

However, he said that the prosecution may opt to present first Article II to be followed by Article III. — RSJ, GMA News