With the Senate impeachment court having wrapped up pre-trial proceedings, the House of Representatives prosecution panel on Friday expressed confidence that nothing stands in the way of the July 6 trial of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
The Senate concluded the pre-trial conference on Thursday after five days devoted to resolving procedural issues and organizing documentary evidence ahead of the presentation of the case.
In a virtual press conference on Friday, House impeachment spokesperson Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said the completion of the process removes any remaining hurdle to the formal trial.
“Kakatapos lang po ng pre-trial conference kahapon at nakahanda ang prosecution na mag-submit ng kanilang mga komento (The pre-trial conference just finished yesterday, and the prosecution is preparing to submit its comments),” he said.
With 10 days left before the scheduled start of the trial on July 6, Adiong said the impeachment court would soon begin hearing the evidence from both sides in accordance with due process.
He said the July 6 trial will give the prosecution its first opportunity to publicly present the evidence supporting the impeachment complaint, saying Filipinos deserve to know the truth.
“Ang taumbayan po ay nakikinig, nagbabantay, at nagmamatyag. Deserve nila ang katotohanan at pawang katotohanan lamang. At iyan po ang panata ng prosecution team. Ang ilatag ang katotohanan at pawang katotohanan lamang sa sambayanang Pilipino sa nalalapit na paglilitis kay Vice President Sara Duterte (The people are listening, watching and observing. They deserve the truth and only the truth. And that’s the vow of the prosecution – to lay down the truth before the Filipino people during the upcoming trial of Duterte),” Adiong said.
House legal spokesperson Benjamin “Jay” Tolosa Jr., for his part, said the prosecution panel views the completion of the pre-trial phase as a significant step because it allows the public to hear the evidence firsthand.
“We welcome this important milestone because it allows the constitutional process to move forward and gives the Filipino people the opportunity to hear the evidence, examine the facts, and know the truth through a fair, transparent, and orderly trial,” he said.
Sheriff Witness
Among the individuals included by the prosecution’s witness list is former Davao City court sheriff Abe Andres, the court sheriff punched by then- Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte during a 2011 demolition incident.
Tolosa said the inclusion of Andres is tied to evidence allowed under the rules to establish a behavioral pattern or tendency.
“Under the rules, it is allowed to present evidence to establish a behavioral pattern, to establish the propensity of a person to resort to violence, for example,” he said, though he said the prosecution could not yet disclose the detailed basis for presenting the witness.
Adiong said the prosecution is looking at both actions and words in assessing the Vice President’s conduct.
He said the alleged threats against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez must be seen alongside other conduct that may show how Duterte reacts when her authority is challenged.
“When she’s angry, she gets too volatile,” Adiong said.
He cited the sheriff incident as one example of conduct that, in the prosecution’s view, reflects a broader concern over impunity.
“It also speaks about the attitude that she is – the culture of impunity that we would try to address,” Adiong said.
“No one should be above the law. No one should have the right to take justice into their own hands,” he added.
Psychiatrist To Assess Seriousness Of Threats
Also included in the witness list is a psychiatrist to help assess the seriousness of Duterte’s alleged threats in an objective and expert manner.
Tolosa said expert testimony may also help establish the nature and purpose of the alleged threats.
“So, it could establish a lot of things, among other things, the seriousness of the threats, the fact that when it was made, it was not made in jest,” he said.
“The fact that the threat was seriously made and there was every intention to produce that intended effect, which is to threaten the recipients of these statements,” he added.
Adiong said the psychiatrist’s role would be to assist the impeachment court in evaluating whether the alleged threats under Article 4 were serious, intentional, and properly understood in context.
He said the defense has suggested that the alleged statements were not real threats, but figures of speech, conditional remarks, or words made in the spur of the moment, and an expert may help the court and the public assess that claim.
“Someone who is objective and non-partisan is the right witness to establish to the court that, yes indeed, these allegations and these threats are made with seriousness,” he said.
“The only way for the public to know that these threats are made in seriousness, with clarity and with seriousness, is for an expert to observe and assess the utterances of threats against the President, the First Lady, and the former speaker,” he said.
BIR box An ‘Armory’ Of Evidence
Meanwhile, the prosecution panel suggested that the sealed Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box could be an “armory” of evidence in the impeachment case due to the seeming fear of the defense team of having it opened.
The sealed BIR box contains income tax returns (ITRs) submitted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue to the House Committee on Justice in compliance with a subpoena covering the tax filings of the Vice President, her spouse, and their financial interests.
According to the prosecution, the tax documents are central to the impeachment article alleging unexplained wealth because they could help determine whether Duterte’s declared assets, liabilities and lawful income are consistent with one another.
The records are also expected to be cross-checked against the Vice President’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) and other financial documents as prosecutors seek to substantiate allegations of unexplained wealth. (PNA)