The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte should proceed because her answer to the Articles of Impeachment focused on procedural and constitutional objections instead of directly addressing the evidence, the House prosecution panel said.
The prosecution said there was no need to file another pleading, arguing that the Vice President’s submission mainly sought the dismissal of the case rather than a substantive response to the charges.
“There’s no need for the House Prosecution to submit its pleading because technically, what they have been saying all along is questioning the procedure, the constitutionality of the entire process,” House trial spokesperson Zia Alonto Adiong said.
He said the same issues had already been raised repeatedly by the defense even before the case reached the Senate impeachment court.
“So, there’s no substantive arguments or counterarguments that they have actually supplied in their answers to the articles of impeachment. It was purely procedural and constitutional objections,” he said.
The prosecution’s position places the next phase of the case before the impeachment court, where both sides are expected to argue under trial rules and eventually present evidence.
According to the prosecution, the defense appears to be asking the court to terminate the case before the evidence is heard.
“What the Vice President and her legal team wants is actually an outright dismissal of the case on the basis of procedural, technical and constitutional objections,” Adiong said.
He said the prosecution expects the defense to raise several technical objections once the trial moves into full proceedings.
“It’s basically because of non-answer, and so I would expect, and we would expect, that once the trial comes to a full-blown scenario, the House prosecution or the court itself would be hounded by a lot of objections, technical objections,” he said.
The prosecution is now preparing for the pre-trial conference, where the impeachment court is expected to set the rules on the presentation of documents, witnesses, and other evidence.
Adiong said the pre-trial stage would allow the panel to submit its evidence and list of potential witnesses.
“The pre-trial conference is the laying down of the ground rules for the people to know what the flow of the trial would be,” he noted.
He added that the impeachment court had indicated dates for the pre-trial conference and the trial, with proceedings expected to move toward the scheduled trial date in July.