House prosecutors intend to call Vice President Sara Duterte as a witness in her own impeachment trial after presenting evidence on all four allegations they raised against her under the articles of impeachment.
“The testimony of the Vice President will be material to all four articles—grave threats, misuse and misappropriation of funds, unexplained wealth, and bribery,” private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan told the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
“And that is why at the end of [the presentation of] these articles, we reserved the right to present the Vice President herself,” she said.
Vote threshold
The court, meanwhile, will hold oral arguments tentatively scheduled for Sept. 16 in a renewed bid to determine if it will retain the 24-member voting base to convict or acquit Duterte.
This came after Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo said the court should discuss and decide on it “sooner than later” as he noted the physical absence of several senators, all belonging to the minority.
The senator-judges plan to invite amici curiae, or friends of the court, to guide them on this matter.
“If we were to cast our votes two or three months from now or next month or even tomorrow, who among our members could validly cast their votes on the final question?” Tulfo asked, noting that not all senators were “beyond the reach” of the Senate.
Four senators have been physically absent from the Senate for the past several months. Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta are under police detention for plunder cases before the Sandiganbayan, while Loren Legarda is abroad on an extended medical leave.
Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has been in hiding as he may likely face charges in connection with the crimes against humanity cases filed against former president Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court.
The Senate impeachment court may decide on the vote threshold question on Sept. 23, according to presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero. He ruled in July that the court needs the vote of 16 senator-judges based on the two-thirds concurrence of the 24-member voting base.
15 witnesses dropped
On Day 23 of the trial on Tuesday, House prosecutors were supposed to start presenting three more witnesses on Article 1, which was on the alleged misuse and misappropriation of over ₱5 million in Duterte’s confidential funds from her office and the Department of Education (DepEd) when she was education secretary.
But Kapunan said that after “a long meeting last night and towards this morning,” the House prosecutors decided to “forego” presenting not only the three witnesses but also 15 of the 27 witnesses they plan to call for Article 1.
They have already presented 10 witnesses who testified in court, while two others were stipulated.
From their testimonies emerged a pattern that, Kapunan said, can be likened to a chessboard game, where she said there are “pawns, bishops, castles and horses.”
“And the most important, and more important than the king—and I speak this not because of my gender—but the queen is more important than the king, because the queen can move in many directions,” she said, adding:
“This is why all these pawns, and castles, horses and bishops point to only one person, and that accountable person is the Vice President and that is why, Your Honor, in lieu of presenting 15 other witnesses, we will be presenting the Vice President herself as regards to the use, misuse, misappropriation of confidential funds.”
Asked by Escudero if the prosecution is seeking the court’s issuance of a subpoena against Duterte, Kapunan said: “Not at this time.”
Defense reaction
Responding to Kapunan’s manifestation, defense lead counsel Sheila Sison said the prosecution team’s bid to have Duterte be present in the trial “has been settled since Day 1 of the trial.”
“It’s clear that the respondent is here through her counsel. If the respondent is not interested in this trial, she would not have sent her lawyers to defend her case,” she said.
But Sison said there was an “innate problem” with the prosecution’s request, citing a constitutional provision that “no person shall be compelled to testify against himself or to be a witness.”
Prosecution lead counsel and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro defended their bid to call Duterte to the witness stand, saying this was “in line with the mandate of transparency and accountability, which is enshrined in our Constitution.”
“It’s important the impeachment court, including the viewing public, witness how the respondent Vice President answers to all these allegations because this is the spirit behind the Constitution on transparency and accountability,” Luistro said.
104 ‘requests for admission‘
Meanwhile, prosecutor and Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno handed 104 “requests for admission” to the defense panel regarding bank and insurance documents supposedly belonging to Duterte, as his team prepares to present evidence on Article 3 of the articles of impeachment next week.
Diokno noted the difference between a request for admission and that of a stipulation, which was used in deliberating on the first two articles of impeachment.
“A stipulation is the product of an agreement between the parties and only becomes binding when the parties agree to stipulate. A request for admission, on the other hand, invokes specific procedure under Rule 26, which does not depend on the parties first reaching an agreement,” he said.
He explained that they were invoking that procedure “to narrow down issues, shorten the trial and assist the court in the orderly and unimpeded search for the truth.”
Defense lawyer Michael Poa asked the court to give the panel 15 days, and not seven days as requested by prosecutors, to file a comment on the requests. Escudero granted Poa’s plea.
Trial schedule
The presiding officer announced the new schedule for the impeachment trial as the Senate will be in the thick of deliberations of the 2027 national budget for the next two months.
From Sept. 8–30, the impeachment trial will continue with its 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. schedule. But on Oct. 1, 2, 5–9, and 12–15, it will be for the whole day.
There will be no proceedings from Oct. 16–Nov. 18 due to the budget hearings in the Senate. CS
