The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte could be finished within three months of its start, lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said Monday, placing a likely conclusion around the close of September.
Speaking to reporters, Luistro tied that projection to the tentative July 6 opening of the proceedings. “At minimum, one, two or three months,” she said. “My estimate is that if we start on July 6, we will perhaps end by the end of September 2026.”
That window, she stressed, assumes the trial runs without interruption. “So if there are no delays and proceedings are continuous, this can be completed in three months,” she added.
How long the trial proper actually takes will hinge on matters still to be settled. Luistro said the question of duration is on the agenda for the June 18 pre-trial conference, where Duterte’s lawyers are expected to lay out their own reading of how the schedule should unfold.
The defense, she noted, will have to specify how much courtroom time it needs. “They will also be asked how many trial dates they need to conclude the presentation of their evidence,” she said in Filipino. “The number of trial dates will likewise be determined during the pre-trial conference.”
Ahead of that conference, the 11-member prosecution panel was preparing to lodge its pre-trial brief with the Senate on Monday. The document is meant to set out the prosecution’s version of the facts, name the witnesses it intends to call, identify its supporting evidence, and propose dates for the hearings.
The June 18 conference is where prosecution and defense are expected to narrow the contest. Among the items to be resolved: agreeing on which facts are not in dispute and trimming the issues; marking documentary and physical evidence while settling any objections or admissions; fixing the number and identity of witnesses; locking in trial dates; and proposing the order in which evidence will be presented, including any reshuffling of that sequence. The two sides are also meant to take up anything else that would help move the case along fairly and quickly.
The charges Luistro’s team will argue are spelled out across the articles of impeachment. They accuse Duterte of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft, and betrayal of public trust over the alleged misuse of P500 million in confidential funds at the Office of the Vice President and P112.5 million at the Department of Education. A separate article alleges she accumulated wealth out of step with her lawful income and left assets undeclared in her statements of net worth for 2022, 2023, and 2024.
The articles further allege she funneled money to Education department officials to push them past procurement rules, and — in the gravest count — that she schemed to have the president, the first lady, and the former House speaker killed should she herself be slain, while issuing threats and stirring sedition against the state.
At 48, Duterte continues to command a devoted following even as those allegations of corruption and constitutional breaches drive the case against her.
