Prosecutors rest impeachment case vs VP Sara

MANILA, Philippines — To expedite the long-drawn proceedings, the House prosecution team has decided to conclude its presentation of evidence against Vice President Sara Duterte before the Senate impeachment court today.

House lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro said this has been the consensus of both the public and private assigned prosecutors handling all the Articles of Impeachment, with the remaining bribery charge to be forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman under Jesus Crispin Remulla.

“From the conclusion of the testimony of the expert witness we wish to seek the guidance of the impeachment court as to when we will be filing the formal offer of exhibits,” Luistro said, acknowledging that the bank records’ testimony is quite lengthy.

Luistro also confirmed the decision to forgo the bribery charge, which was done to expedite the proceedings and come to its final conclusion at the soonest time possible.

When the Senate impeachment court resumes its hearing today, Luistro said that financial analyst expert lawyer Alexander Cabrera will once again take the witness stand for the cross-examination to be conducted by the defense panel. This will be followed by a redirect examination by the prosecution and a re-cross by the defense, if necessary.

The prosecution has earlier filed a manifestation before the Senate impeachment court that Cabrera will be its last witness and it will no longer be presenting evidence on Article III, or the bribery charge where officials of the Department of Education were supposed to testify.

Luistro added the prosecution will also be seeking guidance from the court if it will push through with the calling of additional witnesses, particularly on Impeachment Article I or the allegation that Duterte misused P612.5 million in confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), which used to be headed by Duterte.

Bribery raps

The House prosecution panel also sought to allay concerns over its decision to drop the bribery charge against Duterte, saying the allegations could still be referred to the ombudsman or the Department of Justice for possible investigation.

Luistro said the withdrawal of the charge, handled by fellow prosecutor Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores, would not prevent authorities from pursuing the allegations through separate legal proceedings.

“Please don’t lose hope in the bribery charge because even if we have already manifested that this is withdrawn as shared already by honorable Flores, there are proper agencies or offices which have jurisdiction over this case,” said Luistro, chairperson of the House committee on justice.

The charge involved allegations that Vice President Duterte gave money to DepEd officials to influence procurement decisions during her term as education secretary.

Among the allegations was former DepEd undersecretary Gloria Mercado’s account of receiving nine envelopes containing P50,000 each.