House impeachment prosecutor Joel Chua of Manila on Tuesday said the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte will proceed even if she personally chooses not to appear before the Senate impeachment court.
Chua explained that under impeachment rules, the Senate’s writ of summons primarily requires the vice president to submit her answer to the articles of impeachment and enter her plea before the court.
“The impeachment court issued a writ of summons because the writ of summons has two purposes: One is for the vice president to appear before the impeachment court and the other one (is) for her to submit the answer within 10 days,” Chua said in an interview on ANC’s “Headstart.”
According to the impeachment prosecutor, Duterte may choose to personally appear, authorize her lawyers to appear on her behalf, or decline to participate altogether as part of her legal strategy.
“That depends on the legal strategy of the defense. So, that is not for us to decide. Right now, the vice president is not under our consideration to be our hostile witness,” he added.
However, Chua explained that even if neither Duterte nor her lawyers appear before the impeachment court, proceedings will continue and the court will automatically enter a plea of not guilty for the vice president.
“Now, in the event that the vice president did not appear in the impeachment trial or her lawyer did not appear or no answer was submitted, the trial will proceed anyway, and a plea of not guilty will be entered for the vice president,” he said.
This was expressly provided under Senate Resolution 39, which adopted the rules of procedure governing impeachment trials for the 20th Congress.
Chua added that after the submission of pleadings, the impeachment court would proceed to pre-trial proceedings where evidence, witnesses, and trial issues would be formally identified before the actual trial begins.
“The purpose of the pre-trial is to prevent surprises,” he said.
“So, this is where we discuss what are the issues to be tackled during the trial proper. So, here, there will be marking of evidence, there will be identification of the issues and the witnesses,” the impeachment prosecutor added.
While Duterte is not required to personally testify, Chua said public expectations for answers regarding the allegations against her remain high.
“I don’t think it will help on their part. Considering that people are asking for her explanation. So, I think it would be best on the part of the vice president to explain everything,” he said.
Chua also addressed concerns surrounding the recent change in Senate leadership, where several members of the new majority bloc are politically aligned with Duterte and may attempt to stop trial proceedings.
Despite these concerns, the House prosecutor said they continue to give the Senate the benefit of the doubt since senators formally convened the impeachment court on Monday and took an oath to act impartially as judges during the proceedings.
“I have no reason right now to believe otherwise,” he said.
Chua emphasized that the prosecution panel’s primary request is simply for the Senate to allow the presentation of evidence during the trial.
A two-thirds vote, or at least 16 of the 24 senator-judges, is required to convict the vice president on the impeachment charges against her. Failing to secure the required votes would result in Duterte’s acquittal.
The House impeached Duterte for a second time on May 11 by a landslide vote of 257-25, with nine abstentions, comfortably surpassing the one-third constitutional threshold required to elevate the case to the Senate.
The articles of impeachment accuse the vice president of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds, failing to properly disclose her true wealth in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), committing bribery during her tenure as Education secretary, and making grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Positive start
This developed as House Assistant Majority Leader Zia Alonto Adiong said the convening of the Senate as an impeachment court bodes well for the impeachment trial of Vice Duterte.
“We laud the Senate President and members of his majority for sticking to their word on the convening of the impeachment court. We expect that this is a portent of things to come,” said Adiong, who chairs the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms.
The House leader said the actual trial of Vice President Duterte, during which she can rebut the strong evidence of the House prosecution panel against her, should soon proceed.
“After the preliminaries like compliance with the requirements of due process, the trial should get underway. And it should be free from politics, distraction and obstruction,” he said.
Adiong noted that by requiring the Vice President to answer the impeachment charges within a “non-extendible” period of 10 days and the prosecution to present a counter-response within five days, which cannot also be extended, the impeachment court is observing due process.
“Though the Senate president announced that trial would be set at some future time after due process prerequisites are met, we hope there would be no delay in the trial. We are holding the Senate leadership and senator-judges to their word,” he said.
Adiong said the sooner the Senate impeachment court renders a decision, the better for the nation.
