The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte said Sunday that the proposed 14 August schedule for the stipulation of documents in her impeachment trial was due to the limited availability of its lawyers, rejecting suggestions that it was using the process to delay proceedings.

Defense panel deputy spokesperson Atty. Justin Gular said the 16-member legal team had already adjusted its schedules and could accommodate the document comparison only by 14 August.

“This is not delay. Ganito po talaga ang sistema natin sa trial,” Gular said in a radio interview, explaining that stipulation involves identifying and authenticating documents that both sides intend to use as evidence.

Stipulation involves the comparison, identification and authentication of documents that both sides intend to present as evidence. Gular said the defense was being cautious because parties are bound by documents they agree to stipulate.

“The defense has all the right to be prudent and careful,” Gular said.

The deputy spokesperson added that the scheduling of the stipulation would not prevent Commission on Audit auditor Xylene Del Campo from continuing her testimony.

“We understand people will always have their aspersions, comments, and perceptions, and, really, we respect that,” he said when asked about allegations that the defense was deliberately dragging out the proceedings.

The prosecution has said the defense's refusal to stipulate to the documents could slow the trial, after the Senate impeachment court spent hours during previous hearings comparing copies of documentary evidence.

House prosecution counsel Jay Tolosa said the issue should have been resolved during the pretrial proceedings. He said prosecutors had reached out to the defense to compare their copies before the trial resumed, but the defense did not agree to do so.

“For some reason, they refused to even compare the documents with ours,” Tolosa said in an earlier interview.

Tolosa said the prosecution had reached out to the defense to arrange the comparison before Monday, arguing that doing so during the trial had already consumed hours that could have been used for the presentation of evidence.

He said some senator-judges had grown impatient as the proceedings were held up while the parties compared documents.

“We were trying to avoid this,” Tolosa said.

Tolosa said the prosecution would raise the issue with Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, the presiding officer of the impeachment court, to clarify that prosecutors were not responsible for the delay.

The impeachment court on Wednesday ordered the prosecution and defense to compare their copies of 845 acknowledgment receipts linked to a P125 million OVP confidential-fund allocation for the last quarter of 2022. 

The prosecution has said it has more than 4,000 acknowledgment receipts that it wants marked as evidence. It has argued that requiring a witness to identify each document in court would consume significant trial time. ###