Metro Manila, Philippines – The Impeachment Court has taken judicial notice of the House of Representatives proceedings in the runup to the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
While the decision meant allowing the proceedings to be accepted into the court records, Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero said the grant only means that the tribunal accepts the hearings as having happened; that records, transcripts, recordings, and panel reports from the committee hearings exist; and that the lawmakers and officials who conducted these hearings regularly performed their duties.
It does not mean that the court will accept matters, admissions, and testimonies covered in said hearings as accurate and factual.
In a post-trial briefing, defense spokesperson Michael Poa said: “Kami nirerespeto po namin kahit ano maging ruling ng Impeachment Court. Kanina napansin naman natin na maingat yung naging ruling dahil may mga restrictions in post. Kumbaga nilimitahan at in-emphasize yung ibig ng sabihin ng pag grant nila ng motion for judicial notice.”
[Translation: We respect whatever the Impeachment Court rules. We noticed that they were careful with the ruling because of some restrictions. They added limitations and emphasized what they meant in their grant of the motion for judicial notice.]
Lascañas affidavit
The court also approved a pre-trial conference on the transfer of exhibit markings of portions from the affidavit of Arturo Lascañas, self-proclaimed Duterte hitman, as first raised by National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag, in his testimony on the allegations of grave threat.
Escudero said the affidavit would be restricted in its use to help prove that the NBI used it as an open source lead. It does not mean that the Lascañas statement was true or accurate.
He noted that the document was “unsigned, unnotarized, and not made under oath.”
The court also ruled that witnesses are banned from reading third party statements to prevent the “smuggling” of hearsay into the record.
Poa said the grant only proves the existence of the document, but not its contents.
Meanwhile, the Impeachment Court summoned four witnesses for Aug. 10, 11, and 12. These are:
+Xylene del Campo, auditor of the Commission on Audit-Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office;
+Marivic Pareja of the Legislative Archives and Museum Management Service of the House of Representatives;
+Gina Acosta, former Office of the Vice President special disbursing officer (SDO), and;
+Edward Fajarda, former Department of Education SDO.
They will be testifying on the alleged misuse of Duterte’s confidential funds.
