Davao sheriff asks to skip VP Sara Duterte impeachment trial

Davao City Sheriff Abe Andres, whom the House prosecution team has listed as one of the witnesses in the Vice President’s impeachment trial, requested to be excluded from what he called “partisan political matters” Friday.

On Thursday, Andres was listed by the prosecution team as a witness to establish Impeachment Article 4, which includes Vice President Sara Duterte’s grave threats against President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and then-Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Andres is the sheriff whom Duterte punched during a demolition operation involving informal settlers in Davao City in 2011.

“Well, hindi naman yung kaso niya noong 2011 ang pag-uusapan dito eh. Kung hindi yung ugali o yung pagiging bayolente ng ating bise presidente ang magiging purpose po ng usapin dito,” House Impeachment Prosecutor Rep. Joel Chua said in a “24 Oras” report by Tina Panganiban-Perez.

(Well, it is not the 2011 case that will be discussed here. Rather, the purpose of this discussion is to address the behavior or the violent nature of the Vice President.)

“Under the rules, it is allowed to present evidence to establish behavioral patterns, to establish the propensity of a person to resort to violence, for example,” House Impeachment Trial Legal spokesperson Atty. Benjamin Tolosa Jr. added.

According to House Impeachment Trial spokesperson Rep. Zia Alonto Adoing, the 2011 situation, when Duterte punched Andres, could speak about her attitude and the culture of impunity.

In his statement, Andres said that even then, he chose not to make a comment on the incident

The report said that while Andres is an important witness, the House prosecution panel believes the “star witness” for the Impeachment Article 4 would be the Vice President herself.

“We don't need any star witness here, to be quite frank, because ang witness na dito siguro is mismo ang respondent na ho (the witness here is probably the respondent herself),” Tolosa said.

“Dahil kitang-kita naman ho dun sa mga video footages which was made publicly available ‘yung subject utterances niya. So hindi na ho namin kailangan mag-present ng ibang witness to prove those matters,” Tolosa added.

(Because her subject utterances are clearly visible in the video footage that was made publicly available. So, we no longer need to present any other witnesses to prove those matters.)

Aside from Andres, listed as a witness in the impeachment trial of Duterte is “Mary Grace Piattos” who was named as one of the recipients of confidential funds from the Vice President’s office during the 2024 House good government and public accountability inquiry on the budget use of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

The Philippine Statistics Authority, however, told the House inquiry that they do not have records of a person named “Mary Grace Piattos.”

“If she does not appear, this just supports our position that she's a made-up person,” Tolosa said.

Meanwhile, OVP chief of staff Zuleika Lopez, former OVP spokesperson Reynold Munsayac, and former DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa are considered hostile witnesses, or individuals whose testimonies run counter to the interests of the prosecution.

According to Poa, he has no issue with this, provided it does not conflict with his duties as the Vice President's impeachment lawyer.

During previous hearings of the House Committee on Justice, Atty. Mans Carpio, Duterte’s husband, was repeatedly mentioned in connection with the article of impeachment regarding her alleged unexplained wealth. However, the prosecution did not include him on their list of witnesses.

“It's up for the defense if they want to present him as their own witness to counter the allegations and the evidence that we will present,” Tolosa said.

“But what is important here is we will be able to establish by presenting relevant documents, the AMLC reports, the SALNs [Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth], and bank records, and hopefully the BIR ITRs [Income Tax Returns] as well,” Tolosa said.

The prosecution intends to use these documents to prove that the ]declarations of the respondent and her spouse fail to reflect their true financial standing, Tolosa added.—Lyjah Tiffany Bonzo/LDF, GMA News