A member of the House of Representatives prosecution team said yesterday they are 80 percent ready for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
“We are preparing our testimonial and documentary evidence. And we have conducted a run through of what an impeachment court would feel like, anticipating possible objections from the defense team. So right now, we are not only preparing the evidence for the prosecution, but we are also anticipating what the possible defenses are of the other camp,” Iloilo Third District Rep. Lorenz Defensor said.
He also said that the Vice President can choose to attend or not to attend the impeachment trial.
“As long as she is represented by her counsel during the trial, the trial can proceed kahit wala siya (the trial can proceed even without her). But remember, her personal appearance would say a lot with respect to her accountability, with respect to transparency in the trial,” Defensor said.
The Vice President however has said she would return to the Philippines within the week from the Netherlands, where the Vice President has been attending to the needs of her detained father and coordinating his defense.
She has said her legal team was already preparing and she was ready to face the allegations against her.
Defensor admitted that balancing trial preparations with the election campaign season was challenging.
“But it’s a good challenge also…we get a sense of how our constituents view the impeachment trial, and we have a strong sense that they want to see impeachment proceed,” he said.
Defensor and San Juan Rep. Ysabel Zamora are assigned to the first article of impeachment, which refers to Duterte’s alleged death threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
But Defensor said the entire team should be knowledgeable of all the articles of impeachment.
“All of us should be on board with all articles of impeachment…So while we are focused on building up the case for Article 1, we will be on board for Article 2 until 7,” he said.
Defensor said they were still reviewing the list of witnesses.
“As lawyers, you always gather as much evidence as you can. You screen which would be the best to present during the trial. And since we were given time by the Senate President, it gives us time to thoroughly review what we have,” he said.
Defensor did not disclose the identities of the private prosecutors, but said they are practicing lawyers and litigators. Some of them had prior experience in impeachment trials, he said.
Last week, Senate President Francis Escudero rejected the House prosecution team’s motion to issue summons against the Vice President to answer the articles of impeachment.
Defensor said the prosecution panel has yet to decide on their next move.
“I’m okay with following Senator Chiz Escudero’s directive regarding that timeline. We’ll just do our job to prepare and we will see. But you know, as for me, I will follow whatever the judge says. It would be difficult to go against the judge,” he said.
“Just for the record, I’m very happy and I’m glad that the Senate President, who will be the presiding judge in the impeachment trial, is a lawyer. And I’m very sure that Senate President Chiz Escudero would be able to clearly distinguish between a political exercise such as an impeachment proceeding compared to a judicial proceeding where the strict rules of evidence apply,” Defensor added.
He said the prosecution team would meet again this week.
