The House prosecution panel has asked the Senate impeachment court to allocate at least 62 trial dates for the presentation of evidence and witnesses in the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
House legal spokesperson and private prosecutor Atty. Benjamin “Jay” Tolosa Jr. said the request is based on the volume of witnesses and exhibits identified in the prosecution’s pre-trial brief.
“The prosecution asked for 62 trial dates, and the defense asked for 30,” Tolosa said in a press briefing at the Senate.
He clarified that the request does not necessarily mean a 62-day trial, noting that the schedule may be compressed if the court allows multiple witnesses per hearing day.
Tolosa also pointed out that the defense listed 97 witnesses in its pre-trial brief, despite requesting fewer trial dates.
“So it’s a question of how come they listed 97 witnesses, but they only asked for 30 trial dates,” he said.
“Maybe it is an indication that there’s really no intention to produce all of those witnesses, but of course, we don’t want to pre-empt what actions they would want to do,” he added.
He said 51 witnesses are common to both parties, consisting of 16 specifically named individuals and 35 unnamed witnesses.
Tolosa added that some defense witnesses were identified only by office, including representatives from the Office of the Vice President and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
He also noted that the defense adopted a substantial portion of the prosecution’s documentary evidence.
“For the exhibits, we have 248 common exhibits, meaning 248 out of the 276 exhibits of the prosecution were basically copied also in their pre-trial brief or listed also as their evidence,” he said.
Tolosa said the final trial schedule will be determined by the Senate impeachment court in its pre-trial order.