The Senate impeachment court on Tuesday deferred issuing a subpoena for former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, saying prosecutors should first present the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) witness or relevant bank records that would establish the basis for his expected testimony.

The issue arose after House prosecutor Rep. Terry Ridon sought to present Trillanes as an additional prosecution witness on Wednesday, following the conclusion of Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte’s testimony. Defense lawyer Sheila Sison objected, saying the prosecution had changed its witness sequence with less than 24 hours’ notice.

“In fact, in the list of the three witnesses that they disclosed yesterday, it does not include the name of the former Senator Trillanes,” Sison told the court.

Sison said the defense needed adequate notice of the prosecution’s witness order to prepare for cross-examination. She eventually withdrew the objection but asked that the defense’s concern over the late change remain on record.

“If the prosecution wants to present the former Senator Trillanes tomorrow, then we'll be ready, Your Honor,” Sison said.

‘The cart cannot be put ahead of the horse’

Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero, however, declined to issue the subpoena at this stage, pointing to the prosecution’s own motion for the issuance of the subpoena.

Escudero noted that the motion said Trillanes would testify on funds and bank accounts allegedly connected to Vice President Sara Duterte, but no such bank accounts had yet been presented before the impeachment court.

“My understanding is if at all, he will be presented or should be presented after AMLC at the very least or after any of the bank accounts shall have been presented,” Escudero said.

“The cart cannot be put ahead of the horse,” he added, advising prosecutors to first present the AMLC officer, bank officials or relevant bank records.

The court nonetheless clarified that its decision not to issue the subpoena would not prevent the prosecution from voluntarily calling Trillanes as a witness.

“The court shall not at this time issue the subpoena to former Senator Trillanes. However, nothing prevents, the court cannot prevent the prosecution from calling him as a witness voluntarily,” Escudero said.

Ridon told the court that prosecutors wanted to present the bank records at the earliest opportunity but that the issue concerning their admission had only been resolved Tuesday.

He said the earliest the prosecution could request subpoenas for the banks would be Friday.

Escudero said that if prosecutors proceeded with Trillanes before the previously planned witnesses, the court would give the defense sufficient time to prepare for cross-examination and could entertain a motion to defer the cross-examination.

Prosecution’s prerogative

After the proceedings, defense spokesperson Michael Poa explained why the defense withdrew its objection despite its concerns over the late change in the witness sequence.

Poa said determining how the prosecution presents its witnesses is ultimately within the prosecution’s prerogative.

“Prerogative naman talaga ng prosecution kung paano nila ilalatag, kung pwede nila ilalatag through their witnesses,” Poa told reporters.

He said the defense was also assured that it could seek additional time to prepare for cross-examination if prosecutors made late changes. The defense could ask the court to defer cross-examination if it received late notice about the order of a witness, he added.

“So, para na lang hindi na pag-awayan yung bagay na ’yan, we just, at best, we just withdraw our objection,” Poa said.