A House prosecutor has dismissed claims that a shortage of personnel is causing delays in the pre-trial proceedings of an ongoing impeachment case, saying the bottleneck is due instead to the sheer volume of documents being processed and marked by all parties involved.
Speaking to reporters at the Senate on Tuesday, Rep. Terry Ridon said the pace of the proceedings is being driven by logistical constraints rather than staffing issues within the prosecution panel.
“It is not the manpower question,” he emphasized, stressing that the delays stem from the number of documents that must be signed and reviewed by the prosecution, defense, and the Clerk of Court, who also serves as Senate Secretariat.
He added that even the court personnel themselves have acknowledged limitations in handling the workload.
“Yung clerk of court na ang nagsabi na limited tao nila sa bagay na ito,” he said, noting that the process requires coordination among multiple offices handling large volumes of evidence.
The party-list lawmaker also questioned suggestions from the defense that insufficient prosecution manpower was slowing down the proceedings, saying both public and private prosecutors are fully engaged in the process.
He emphasized that the issue is not the availability of lawyers but the time-intensive nature of exhibit marking and verification.
Ridon likewise denied claims that House prosecutors only appear briefly in the mornings and leave the rest of the work to private counsel.
He said he has personally remained present throughout the day until the marking sessions are completed in the afternoon, underscoring continued participation by members of the prosecution panel in the process.