The House prosecution panel welcomed the defense’s recent agreement in principle to open the sealed Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte but questioned why the position was only revealed after the pre-trial conference.
House trial spokesperson Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said the defense initially opposed even marking the sealed box during pre-trial proceedings, raising concerns about lost time and procedural efficiency.
“If this was their position all along, why wait until after the pre-trial conference to disclose it? Why oppose even the simple marking of the BIR box earlier?” Alonto Adiong said.
He noted that the new filing moves the dispute from whether the box should be opened to how the process should be conducted, which he described as a positive step toward streamlining the impeachment proceedings.
However, the prosecution expressed reservations about the defense’s proposal to open the box in a separate executive session before it is unsealed and pre-marked. The defense also recommended safeguards for handling and disclosing documents while reserving objections to their eventual admissibility.
“For us, the question is simple: is an extra executive session necessary to unseal and pre-mark the box, or does it merely add another procedural step before the trial can formally begin? That is now for the Impeachment Court to decide,” Alonto Adiong said.
He emphasized that the prosecution’s goal has consistently been to ensure orderly identification and presentation of evidence without prejudging its admissibility.
“Opening and pre-marking the documents does not automatically make them evidence. Those decisions remain with the Impeachment Court during trial,” Alonto Adiong said.
The development signals the end of unnecessary procedural disputes as the trial set for July 6 approaches. “The Filipino people have waited long enough. The sooner these preliminary issues are resolved, the sooner the court can focus on the evidence,” he added.
The prosecution reiterated that impeachment proceedings should now shift from procedural debates to the presentation of documents and witnesses, allowing the Senate impeachment court to resolve the case on the merits.