VP Sara’s lawyers told: Present competent witnesses in impeachment trial
Atty. Lindon Bacquel during his direct examination of their witness Atty. Martin Antero, a long-time friend of Vice President Sara Duterte and her husband Atty. Manases "Mans" Carpio
Aram Lascano
House lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro on Friday called on lawyers from the defense to ensure that their remaining witnesses were competent in answering the allegations raised against their client, believing that the lack of substantial testimony only wasted the court’s time.
“I hope they will be reviewing the list of their last batch of witnesses...they should concentrate on presenting substantial and competent evidence. If they are not competent and not substantial, I think we are wasting the time of the impeachment court,” Luistro said during a press conference.
The lawmaker’s sentiment came amid information that the defense had around eight to ten remaining individuals set to testify in the proceedings after it dispensed with most of its witnesses in the previous week.
On Wednesday, 11 November, defense lawyer Atty. Michael Poa said that they would be dispensing with 15 out of the 16 bank officials that their group intended to call during the proceedings.
Poa later explained that the decision came “in the interest of time” and a means to “abbreviate the proceedings” which began in 6 July. The defense started their presentation of evidence last 9 November.
Duterte’s lawyers have, so far, presented a total of six witnesses to defend their client, including city assessors where alleged undisclosed properties of the Vice President were located and a lawyer serving as the corporate counsel of company’s tied to her by the prosecution.
Some of the personalities that have taken the witness stand have received severe criticism from senator-judges in the proceedings for being unresponsive to the questions that were being asked of them.
Senator Raffy Tulfo, in particular, went as far as labeling GenCorp Industries Incorporated and Metro City Chow Foods Corporation corporate counsel Atty. Suzette Balucanag-Punay as a non-credible witness.
Tulfo made the statement after he questioned Punay on the supposed “loose investment” of the Vice President to GenCorp, pondering how Duterte had gotten P2.14 million as a return of capital despite initially investing P46,000 in Davao Bounty Times Food Corporation.
Punay, for her part, responded that the initial investment was used for the creation of the corporation, noting that she was not aware whether the Vice President had any other investments made that were not reflected in the Articles of Information.
The senator challenged the witness, arguing that she should have made further research on the perceived discrepancy.
“You are not a credible witness in that way, in this case, because you can’t tell us anything, it’s all ‘I do not know’...because it’s very simple, just do the math, like I said earlier,” Tulfo asserted.
The scheduled trial of the Vice President was postponed on Friday after the defense dispensed with its remaining witness for the week.
Impeachment court presiding officer said that the trial will resume on 19 November in view of the activities related to the Philippines’ hosting of the 49th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit from 15 to 18 November.