VP Sara Duterte faces 92-day impeachment trial starting July 6

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate impeachment court has approved a 92-day trial for Vice President Sara Duterte commencing on July 6. The approved trial period – contained in the 14-page Pre-Trial Order signed by Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian on June 29 – is much shorter than the previous estimate of seven to eight months. Based on the order, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR, 62 trial dates have been set for House prosecutors and 30 for the Vice President’s defense team. The trial convenes at 2 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays until July 28 – a day after President Marcos delivers his fifth State of the Nation Address – with a slightly revised schedule: 3 p.m. during Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. In total, the prosecution has 57 witnesses, while the defense has 45. The witnesses will testify under a strict One-Day Examination Rule, meaning their testimonies must be completed on their scheduled date unless the court grants an extension for good cause. The impeachment court also approved a four-stage timeline requested by the prosecution panel led by Rep. Gerville Luistro. The issue on grave threats and assassination plot made by Duterte during a press conference will have 11 trial dates, while the one on the misuse of confidential funds will have 31 trial dates. DepEd corruption will cover eight trial dates and unexplained wealth, 12 trial dates. Senators from the minority bloc led by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, meanwhile, are again appealing to the Supreme Court (SC) to invalidate the Senate plenary session last June 3 that saw his ouster as Senate president. With less than a week before the start of the trial, House prosecutors have warned the Senate against prematurely dismissing the impeachment case, arguing that short-circuiting the trial would deny the Filipino public the right to hear the evidence. “It’s already an established fact that under the Constitution, the Senate’s mandate is to try and decide, meaning to say there has to be a time for the proper trial to be conducted and for the evaluation of the evidence and the testimony of the witnesses for both panels to cross-examine,” House trial spokesman and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong Adiong said yesterday. “It’s not exactly in the Constitution that the Senate can dismiss outright the case or the Articles of Impeachment.” On June 1, Duterte’s legal team submitted its formal answer to allegations against Duterte, actively urging the impeachment court to dismiss them. In her defense, the Vice President primarily invoked freedom of expression, bank secrecy laws and an alleged lack of evidence. Adiong criticized the Vice President’s response as “a recycled narrative” that relied heavily on procedural objections rather than on substantive issues. Addressing Duterte’s claim that her remarks regarding an assassination plot were a protected political expression, Adiong said: “I don’t think opinion and threat are the same.” “One conviction in one article is sufficient enough for the Vice President to be automatically removed from office,” he pointed out. — Bella Cariaso, Ghio Ong