Prosec vows September presentation limit

House prosecutor Representative Terry Ridon expressed support for calls to conduct the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte expeditiously, hoping to finish the prosecution’s evidence presentation before the end of September.

“We [Prosecution] will try to wrap up all of the presentation of evidence hopefully by the end of next month so that the defense will have an opportunity to present their evidence from October up to the middle of November,” Ridon said in an online briefing on Friday.

The lawmaker’s remarks came after he was asked whether his group was amenable to Senate President Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian’s proposed target of finishing the trial by December of this year.

Despite the suggestion, Gatchalian did acknowledge that the proceedings may extend into 2027 because of the pattern of the hearings and the various suspensions that have affected trial dates.

“If it continues this way, I think it will stretch into the coming year. Our target, hopefully, is by December. So the Senate will adjust so the target of one witness per day will be achievable,” the senator said in a radio interview.

Ridon said that prosecutors fully backed calls for swift proceedings, noting that even the Vice President had publicly called for a “speedy” process.

“We support the cause, actually all parties, because even Vice President Sara Duterte has called for a speedy conclusion of the trial; we share the same sentiment as the Senate President that the trial will finish at the earliest time,” he said.

“We will see, but hopefully before December the trial will finish,” he added.

Amid the sentiments of all parties involved in the impeachment, the lawmaker said he expected changes in how the trial was carried out, particularly in the trial’s scheduling.

Gatchalian had previously said the Senate was discussing increasing the number of trial dates per week to four and reverting the start of hearings at the upper house to 3 p.m.

While not disclosing the final decision of senators on the matter, the Senate leader said that they had already reached a “consensus.”

Final witnesses

With the prosecution panel in the midst of presenting its evidence regarding the alleged misuse of confidential funds under the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education, Ridon expressed hope that they would be able to present several relevant witnesses in the coming week.

Among the individuals to be called for the proceedings are representatives from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), who will testify on whether the signatories of the acknowledgment receipts of confidential funds were registered under the agency.

During hearings at the House Committee on Justice, the PSA revealed that identities such as “Mary Grace Piattos” and “Milky Secuya” were absent from their database.

Ridon noted that the testimony would be material to their case, since the individuals were where the paper trail ended on how the confidential funds were used.