Prosecution may waive some articles if evidence vs. Sara Duterte already 'strong'

The House prosecution panel aims to present the necessary evidence for all four articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, but might end up dropping witnesses or articles if the evidence presented at court is already strong, one of the prosecutors said following the Senate’s projection of a seven- to eight-month trial duration.

“Pero hindi naman ibig sabihin non ay lahat ‘yan ay masusunod kasi unang una, halimbawa po, kasi ito po ay binase namin sa number ng witnesses na meron po kami,” House Prosecutor Representative Joel Chua said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview Sunday.

(But that doesn’t mean everything will play out exactly that way because, first of all, we based this timeline strictly on the number of witnesses we currently have.)

“Pero may pagkakataon po kasi na halimbawa [sa] isang araw, dalawa o tatlong testigo ang maipresenta namin so mababawasan din po yan,” he added.

(But there will be instances where, for example, we might be able to present two or three witnesses in a single day, so that will naturally reduce the timeframe.)

On Monday, the House prosecutors requested 63 trial dates for the impeachment trial, more than double the 30 days sought by the defense.

“Halimbawa, dumating po pagkaraan po ng dalawang articles ay tingin po namin ay may sapat na numero na at talagang matibay-tibay na yung ebidensya na nairepresenta namin ay pwede naman din po dumating ang pagkakataon na i-waive na namin 'yung ibang articles,” Chua said.

(For instance, if after presenting two articles of impeachment we feel we already have enough numbers and the evidence we’ve laid out is solid enough, we may waive the remaining articles.)

Previously, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said that there are around 10,000 pieces of evidence marked to be presented in the impeachment trial.

Chua explained that on the confidential funds issue alone, they have around 4,000 acknowledgment receipts. This number doubled after the defense team declined a common marking of evidence.

“Ibig sabihin po sa isang dokumento pwedeng ‘yung defense at ‘yung prosecution ay doon na lang magmarka sa isang dokumento pero ang nangyari po kasi dahil ayaw pumayag ng defense at gusto po nila ay separate marking… so ‘yung 4,000 [na] dokumento naging 8,000,” Chua explained.

(Meaning, both the defense and the prosecution could just mark the exact same document. But since the defense refused and insisted on separate markings, those 4,000 documents effectively doubled to 8,000.)

Despite the projected duration of the impeachment trial, Chua said the House prosecution panel will do its best to present necessary evidence for all four articles of impeachment.

“Wala pong bibitiw, basta tayo po ay gagawin lang po namin sa abot ng aming makakaya lahat ng aming magagawa para maipresenta po sa ating mga kababayan at sa impeachment court ang mga ebidensya base po sa per artikulo,” Chua said.

(No one is backing down. We will do everything within our power to properly present the evidence for each article, both to the public and to the impeachment court.)

Chua said their only appeal to the Senate impeachment court is to give them the opportunity to present their evidence properly, adding that the impeachment trial, after all, is about accountability. — BM, GMA News