Prosecutors back alternating with Duterte defense in new per-article trial
MANILA, Philippines — The House prosecution panel has formally backed a plan to try Vice President Sara Duterte one charge at a time — a switch meant to speed up a trial in which her lawyers were not due to present their own evidence for months.
The prosecutors filed a manifestation Tuesday, July 28, agreeing to alternate with the defense on an "article per article basis," Senate impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol said at a press conference.
If Duterte's camp agrees, the court could scrap Wednesday's hearing on the confidential funds charge and let her lawyers open their case on grave threats Monday, their first evidence of the trial.
Under the pre-trial order, the prosecution has 62 trial days to run all four articles before the defense would get its turn. There are 30 trial days allotted for the defense.
The new proposed sequence would have each side finish an article before the court moves to the next.
"They [prosecutors] have agreed on an article per article basis. Prosecution, and then defense, then we move on to the next article," Tongol said, though he added: "However, as to the defense, we have not received a formal manifestation from the respondent on that matter."
The prosecution closed Article IV, the grave threats charge, on July 22, finishing in nine of its 11 allotted days after dropping two witnesses.
Under the proposed alternating scheme, the defense's turn on that article will come first before the court gets to the prosecution's presentation on Article I or the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds.
The confidential funds charge is set for 31 trial days, the longest of the four articles.
Last week, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said the proposed sequence would allow the trial to "move faster" by letting the defense address issues raised by the prosecution immediately instead of months later.
Should the defense agree, Tongol said, Escudero could issue an order today or tomorrow canceling the scheduled Article I (confidential funds) presentation, with the defense opening on Article IV (grave threats) on Monday.
Tongol noted however the switch will not bring a much earlier verdict. Under the Senate impeachment rules, all four articles must be tried before the senator-judges vote, and the voting is then done article by article.
A guilty vote on just a single article is enough to convict and remove Duterte from office.
Article IV accuses Duterte of threatening to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-Speaker Martin Romualdez killed, in remarks she made in a November 2024 online press conference. Duterte has denied all wrongdoing.
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