The House prosecution panel is confident it can secure a conviction in the upcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte — unless senator-judges prioritize their political ties over what the panel described as the “glaring” evidence against her.

Rep. Joel Chua, one of the prosecutors, said in an interview Thursday that if the senators vote to acquit Duterte, they must have a comprehensive explanation for challenging the merits of the case and dispute the “overwhelming” evidence to be presented by the prosecution.

“If the evidence is very overwhelming, very blatant, and very obvious, I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be in our favor. Otherwise, they will need to explain to the public why they cast such a vote,” he said, partly in Filipino.

“I believe that our esteemed senators will perform their duty based on the evidence and not because of their political party,” he added.

Expected to be presented in evidence are the alleged bogus recipients of the confidential funds from Duterte’s office and the Department of Education, as well as a clip from an online press conference in which she said she had arranged for the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez in the event of her own death.

Incoming House member Leila de Lima of the Mamamayan Liberal (ML) Party-list, who is expected to join the prosecution team, also believes the evidence is strong, “especially regarding the issue of the confidential funds.”

“Also, particularly in the matter of her blatant threats against the life of the President, the Speaker, and the First Lady. That is totally unbecoming of a very high official like the Vice President,” she said.

De Lima, a staunch critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte, is expected to be part of the 11-member prosecution panel alongside another incoming lawmaker, Chel Diokno of Akbayan, replacing two prosecutors who lost their reelection bids.

According to De Lima and Diokno, the position was offered to them by Speaker Romualdez, and they accepted immediately.

Akbayan is leading the party-list race with 2.8 million votes, or 6.71 percent of the total votes in the party-list race, while ML, which is in 14th place, has garnered 541,134 votes, or 1.32 percent, based on the partial unofficial count with 97.37 percent of election returns counted.

Threshold

Akbayan’s standing is enough to secure three seats in the House. Although ML’s vote total has not crossed the two-percent threshold required for a seat allocation, its ranking places it among the groups expected to take at least one of the 63 available seats.

Chua and other administration lawmakers said the potential inclusion of the two “seasoned lawyers” would be a key asset to the prosecution, citing their “experience when it comes to legal matters.”

Romualdez—whom Duterte accused of orchestrating the House probe into her use of multi-million-peso confidential funds, which led to four impeachment complaints—insisted the goal is to fulfill the lawmakers’ constitutional duty, not to pursue a personal vendetta.

He said De Lima’s and Diokno’s inclusion would be a “valuable contribution to ensuring that the proceedings are fair, principled, and rooted in the public interest.”

“The House is committed to presenting a case based solely on facts, evidence, and the rule of law,” Romualdez said on Wednesday.

The House of Representatives impeached Duterte on 5 February, accusing her of graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.

The articles of impeachment are based on Duterte’s alleged plot to have Marcos, the First Lady, and the Speaker killed, as well as the supposed misappropriation of P612.5 million in confidential funds allocated to her office and the DepEd during her tenure as its secretary.

Duterte has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, calling the impeachment a “well-funded” and “coordinated political attack” meant to derail her plan to run for president in the 2028 elections.

The Senate is expected to try her after the 20th Congress convenes and 12 new senators are sworn in.

A two-thirds vote—or at least 16 of the 24 senators—is required to convict Duterte. If convicted, she will be permanently disqualified from holding public office, derailing her bid for the presidency.

Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Thursday reiterated his call for newly elected and reelected senators to refrain from taking a stance on the possible impeachment of Duterte.

Escudero emphasized that Duterte’s endorsement of certain senatorial candidates did not necessarily indicate that they were affiliated with her or were part of her political circle.

“They were endorsed by VP Sara, but they didn’t come from her. So I will continue to make my appeal to all those currently in office and possibly those who will enter the Senate, the presumptive senators, as they say,” Escudero said.

He urged them to withhold judgment on Duterte’s impeachment case until a fair trial is conducted and all relevant evidence has been reviewed.