Metro Manila, Philippines – A member of the House prosecution panel said discussions are underway for an early submission of the formal offer of evidence against Vice President Sara Duterte ahead of the Oct. 23 deadline.
In a Saturday forum, House prosecutor Joel Chua said the panel is looking at expediting the impeachment trial.
The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, gave the prosecution 10 days, or until Oct. 23, to formally offer evidence supporting Article II.
The article centers on Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth, false statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth, and failure to divest business interests.
The defense will also be given 10 days from receipt to submit comments and objections.
On dropping the three other articles of impeachment, Chua said the prosecution aims to obtain a decision from the impeachment court before the year ends.
“Parte ’yun talaga ng legal strategy… kasi po ‘pag nagkakaroon po kami ng meeting, parte rin po dito ’yung babasahin mo kung ano magiging diskarte ng defense. So paano, how will you counter that?” Chua said.
[Translation: It’s really a part of the legal strategy… because whenever the prosecution holds a meeting, part of that is to anticipate what would be the defense’s next move. And so, how will you counter that?]
He said the prosecution suspects that the defense panel might want to prolong the proceedings to next year, by which time public interest has dissipated.
On Tuesday, the Senate Impeachment Court accepted the prosecution’s withdrawal of Article I on alleged misuse of confidential funds, Article III on bribery, and Article IV on grave threats against the president, the first lady, and the former House speaker.
The trial is scheduled to resume Nov. 9, when Duterte’s lawyers are expected to begin presenting their evidence, subject to the court’s resolution of the prosecution’s formal offer.
The November trial dates are on 10-13, 19-20, and 23, whereas the trial dates for December have yet to be announced.
