Prosecutors keep bribery charge, put unexplained wealth case first

House prosecutors will retain the bribery charge against Vice President Sara Duterte but move it to the end of their presentation, reversing an earlier plan under consideration to drop the allegation to shorten her impeachment trial.

Lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro told the Senate impeachment court on Monday that the prosecution would instead advance its presentation on Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth, or Article II, before proceeding with the bribery case under Article III.

The clarification came after prosecutors had publicly floated dropping the bribery charge last week as they sought to speed up the trial and give the Senate impeachment court “breathing room.”

Luistro said the prosecution’s decision to proceed with Article II first was consistent with a June 22 manifestation in which it reserved the right to change the order of its evidence presentation.

“We’re not waiving the presentation of evidence for bribery. The only thing that is being changed is the order of presentation. We will be proceeding to unexplained wealth first, after which, we will end with the presentation of evidence for bribery,” Luistro told the court.

Impeachment presiding officer Francis Escudero sought the clarification after Manila Rep. Joel Chua, one of the public prosecutors, had earlier said the team was considering dropping Article III altogether to expedite the proceedings.

“Right from the very beginning, we said that if we believe that our evidence was already strong, if we have presented the evidence we want to present, then we can reduce the articles we want to present,” he said.

The House Committee on Justice Impeached Duterte in May on allegations involving confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery and grave threats. ###