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Prosecution panel preps for VP Sara Duterte impeachment trial, no formal notice yet

By TINA PANGANIBAN-PEREZ, GMA News

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Members of the House Prosecution Panel are conducting mock trials as part of their preparations for the upcoming Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

"It is important that we are doing also the mock trial to give us a feel of how it is to do the direct examination and the cross-examination," Impeachment Lead Prosecutor and Batangas Representative Gerville Luistro said in an online interview on Thursday.

"Actually, kami-kami lang yan. The 11 prosecutors with some private lawyers... It's just us asking each other about possible questions which can be raised," she added.

Preparations are in full swing, Luistro stated, as she revealed that they are also brushing up on rules of evidence and trial techniques.

"Sometimes we need to meet as a big group. Sometimes we need to meet as a small group. That is the article themes which I have shared to the media. Sometimes we need to study on our own," the chair of the House Committee on Justice said.

"Alam mo, ang biruan namin, para kaming bumalik sa bar review [We joke that it's like we've returned to doing the bar review]. Because we really need to read again the rules on evidence, the trial technique, and we need to prepare the necessary questions which we must propound on the occasion of the direct examination," Luistro added.

No formal notice yet

Lanao del Sur Representative Zia Alonto Adiong, one of the prosecution panel's spokespersons, also on Thursday said that the Senate has not formally communicated with the House of Representatives regarding the schedule of trial.

"We have not yet received any formal notice from the Honorable Impeachment Court regarding the schedule of the proceedings of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. Nevertheless, the 11-member prosecution panel remains fully prepared and stands ready to proceed on whatever schedule the Honorable Court may determine," he said in a statement.

"Sa part ng House, of course, we will be very much ready to appear before the Impeachment Court on the start of the trial, hopefully on July 6," Luistro stated.

Luistro also identified the lead prosecutors for each of the four Articles of Impeachment against Duterte. She will be in charge of the article on alleged confidential funds misuse.

House Senior Deputy Majority Leader Lorenz Defensor will lead the presentation on the article regarding threats and destabilization; House Committee on Good Government Chair and Committee on Justice member Joel Chua is handling the article on bribery; while House Committee on Public Accounts Chair and Committee on Justice member Terry Ridon is handling the article on unexplained wealth.

"I anticipate that I will be delivering the opening statement right before the start of the trial. And then, the next will be the closing statement after the conclusion of all the presentation of evidence. We have to understand as well that it is our position na sana payagan din yung lead prosecutor per article na mag-opening statement at mag-closing statement [that the lead prosecutor for each article should be allowed to make an opening statement and a closing statement]," Luistro said.

The lead prosecutor also confirmed that the sequence of the articles to be presented during the impeachment trial will not follow the sequence in the Articles of Impeachment, but that the order has yet to be finalized.

Ridon earlier said that they planned to start with the article on Duterte's threats against the life of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

During the hearings of the House Committee on Justice, endorsers of the impeachment complaints also repeatedly said that the video of Duterte saying that she had contracted an assassin to kill Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos, and then-Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were to die, formed part of the article on threats and destabilization and was res ipsa loquitur or "the thing speaks for itself."

When asked if this will be the first article to be presented during the trial, Luistro replied, "Kung alin yung pinakasimple, yun ang mas madaling i-present [Whatever the simplest one is will be the easiest to present]. But we have to consider also the strength of the evidence and we are anticipating also what argument the defense will be raising. So maraming factors tayong kino-consider. Basta ang importante, ang gusto namin, yung first salvo, establish agad."

(So there are a lot of factors we are considering. The most important is that the first salvo establishes itself immediately.)

"Meaning, we are able to present the evidence which proves that the respondent is guilty of the offense that constitutes to the ground for impeachment. Our intention is to prove the four articles of impeachment," she added.

"It is really our submission that all of them are strong articles, no? Kailangan lang tingnan in terms of evidence ba, alin ba yung pinakamarami? In terms of evidence, alin ba yung pinaka-heaviest yung weight, no? In terms of the nature of the offense, like what you said, the threat, alin ba yung madaling i-establish? Is threat really easier to establish compared to unexplained wealth which constitute extremely voluminous documents? So these are the questions that we are considering," Luistro added.

Believing in the cause

Impeachment prosecutors are also assigned to present during the trial at least two witnesses.

But Luistro has not yet revealed the complete list of witnesses, as well as the list of private prosecutors who are joining the team and offering their services free of charge.

"There are a lot of them na sikat at [who are renowned and] highly competent, mga abogado de campanilla [highly regarded], experts on impeachment. We really don't know kung sinong aming ilalagay [who we will have] on board. And come to think of this, ito pro bono. And everybody wanted to help. How I wish we can take all of them. But of course, we need to come up with reasonable number of private prosecutors only at baka hindi kami magkasya doon sa loob ng gallery ng Senate [or we might not all fit in the gallery of the Senate]," Luistro said.

"They would not be willing to help us if they do not believe in the cause of this impeachment trial. It only means that they believe in the public prosecutor's cause. It only means that they believe in the public prosecutor's evidence," she stressed.

"Sabi nga po nila, ito daw po yung pinakamahalagang paglilitis sa dekada po na ito. So I think many lawyers would want to be able to participate in the proceedings as well," Ridon said in an interview today.

(As they say, this will be the most important trial of this decade.)

"Kasi talaga naman po ang commitment po talaga nila dito ay pagtitiyak ng katotohanan at pagtitiyak ng pananagutan ng impeachable officials katulad ni Vice President Sara Duterte," he added.

(Their commitment here is to ensure that the truth comes out and that impeachable officials such as Vice President Sara Duterte are held to account.)

As of now, the House Prosecution Panel is waiting for the vice president to submit her answer to the Articles of Impeachment.

She has ten days from receipt on May 20, 2026.

"Pag hindi sila sumagot [If they don't reply], they will be defaulting their opportunity to provide their answer. And then we will wait for the Senate Impeachment Court kung kailangan pa ho ba kaming mag-reply [to see if we still need to reply]. Pero ang pagtingin ho namin [But in our view], if the vice president does not answer, I don't think we still need to reply," Ridon said.

If Duterte submits an answer, the House Prosecution Panel has five days to submit a reply.

Afterwards, the panel hopes that a pre-trial conference and a pre-trial will be scheduled in June.

"It seems to us that by first week of June, we should be able to hold the pre-trial conference. Pag sinabi natin pre-trial conference, this is where we're going to do the marking of exhibits, the listing of evidence, the listing of witnesses, and even the stipulation of facts. medyo tedious ito kasi we have four articles," Luistro explained.

"After the pre-trial conference, we should be able to hold pre-trial. Dito naman sa pre-trial, we will simply adopt everything that we marked and submitted during the pre-trial conference," she added.

As for the vice president's presence during the impeachment trial, Ridon said it is for the vice president to decide.

"Yung pangalawang Pangulo po yung magpapasya kung tingin po nila mahalagang magpakita or mahalagang mag-take ng witness stand, sila po, siya po mismo yung bahala kung isasalang po niya yung sarili niya po sa paglilitis," Ridon stated.

(It will be up to the Vice President whether she thinks it will be important to attend or take the witness stand. It will be up to her whether to take the stand in her trial.)

"Magpapatuloy po yung pong paglilitis kahit hindi po siya magpakita [The trial will continue even if she doesn't show up]. So ultimately naman both sides will be given an opportunity to present their evidence. So the prosecution will present their evidence first and then the defense will present their evidence on the second," he added. — BM, GMA News

Tags: sara duterte impeachment, Sara Duterte impeachment trial, Sara Duterte, impeachment
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