House Committee on Justice Chairman Gerville Luistro said the House will begin preparing its response once it receives the answer of Vice President Sara Duterte following the deadline for the filing of answers to the impeachment complaints.
“As soon as we receive the answer from the Vice President, we will be starting to prepare our reply, which is supposed to be filed within the non-extendable period of 5 days”, she said in a press conference on Monday.
Luistro hoped the House would complete its responses within the week, ensuring that all responsive pleadings would already be submitted to the impeachment court.
“After the receipt of the answer and subsequently of the reply, we will be looking forward to the conduct of a pre-trial conference”, the Batangas second district representative said.
The pre-trial conference, according to Luistro, is expected to streamline the presentation of evidence and witnesses during the trial proper.
The committee chairman also noted that the pretrial conference prompted the submission of stipulations of facts, along with corresponding responses indicating whether the defense team admits or denies each stipulated matter.
“We also submit the list of the witnesses, and we do the marking also of the exhibits which will be very helpful to us considering that three out of four articles have voluminous documents to consider”, Luistro added.
The lawmaker noted that three of the four articles of impeachment involve substantial documentary evidence, namely the confidential funds issue, bribery allegations, and unexplained wealth.
Luistro expressed anticipation for the pretrial conference, which is tentatively scheduled for June 15, with the initial trial date set for July 6.
“We are only apprehensive, the prosecution team, because while we have these dates coming from news reports, we actually have no official notice regarding the schedule of the pretrial conference,” she said.
The prosecutor panel, however, reiterated that there has been no official communication from the House regarding whether the pretrial conference will proceed or be permitted.
“Right now, our preparation is in full swing. We are reading a lot of materials, we have workshops, and we also conduct mock trials,” Luistro said, adding that this is their approach despite the unofficial schedule of the pretrial conference and the upcoming trial.
“For the 11 prosecutors, rest assured that we are ready to fulfill our mandate under the constitution”, she added.