Joel Chua to Senate court: Allow us to present evidence vs. Sara Duterte

Manila Representative Joel Chua, one of the prosecutors for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, on Tuesday appealed to senator-judges to allow them to present their evidence.

Chua made the appeal a day after the Senate convened as an impeachment court.

“Basta kami naman sa panig namin, ang inaasahan lamang namin at ang hinihiling lamang namin ay maging impartial ang mga uupong senator-judges at bigyan lang kami ng pagkakatoon na maipresenta ang aming mga ebidensya,” Chua said in an Unang Balita interview.

(For our part, we expect and appeal to the senator-judges to be impartial and to give us an opportunity to present our evidence against the Vice President.)

The House prosecutors will also be tapping private prosecutors to help them in the impeachment trial, and Chua said this will be disclosed to the public after due vetting.

“For most of us, it has been a long time since we practiced our profession as trial lawyers, so the contribution of private prosecutors will be crucial,” the lawmaker added.

At least 257 members of the House voted for the impeachment of the Vice President, more than the Constitutionally required one-third of all House members to send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate for trial. —AOL, GMA News