Lawyers for Vice President Sara Duterte and the House of Representatives’ 11-member prosecution panel have been ordered to lodge their lists of witnesses and supporting evidence ahead of a pre-trial conference set for the morning of June 18, the first time the two sides will sit down to map out how her impeachment trial will unfold.
The directive came in a notice dated June 9 and signed by acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, who is serving as presiding officer of the chamber sitting as an impeachment court. According to the document, which prosecution panel member and Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon furnished to reporters, the parties or their counsel must appear at 9 a.m. at the Sen. Claro M. Recto Room on the second floor of the Senate building along Diokno Boulevard in Pasay City.
Gatchalian’s notice spelled out that the session would be held behind closed doors. He wrote that the proceedings should not be open to journalists or the public in order “to allow the parties and/or their counsel the widest freedom and latitude towards attaining the objectives of pre-trial,” and added that the parties “shall be notified of subsequent dates for the continuation of the pre-trial conference, if any.”
Documents filed with the clerk of the impeachment court are due no later than June 15, three days before the conference. Each side, per the notice reported by Politiko, must turn over a roster of exhibits currently known and available along with the purpose of each, a list of witnesses with the intended substance of their testimony, and any reservation covering evidence not yet on hand — provided the other camp and the court receive the witness identity or item description at least three days before it is presented.
Among the agenda items the two camps are expected to take up are the stipulation of facts, narrowing of the legal questions, the marking of documents and physical exhibits, waivers and admissions on evidence, the count and naming of witnesses, the scheduling of hearing dates, and the order in which proof will be laid out. Coverage by Rappler and GMA News noted the conference is also meant to address any other arrangement that would help keep the trial fair and moving.
Lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro has said her team is prepared to work within the timetable laid down under Gatchalian, telling the Philippine News Agency that all 11 prosecutors intend to be present on June 18, with the trial proper expected to open July 6. On June 8, the House panel opted not to file a reply to Duterte’s answer, characterizing the response as one that sidesteps the factual allegations and instead leans on procedural, jurisdictional and constitutional objections to the case.
The court warned in the notice that a party who misses the brief deadline or skips the conference without justification could forfeit the chance to bring forward particular witnesses or evidence.
The case carries the docket number 004-2026 and reached the Senate after the House voted 257-25, with nine abstentions, to impeach the vice president on May 11 over accusations including betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft, bribery and high crimes.
Complicating the run-up is an unsettled fight over who controls the chamber. As the Manila Times and Philstar reported, the realignment that installed Gatchalian took place June 3, when a 12-member bloc — strengthened after Sen. Francis Escudero broke from Alan Peter Cayetano’s group, leaving it with 10 — moved to declare all Senate posts vacant. Cayetano, the ousted Senate chief, maintains the reorganization was unlawful and has continued to press his claim to preside, having earlier floated a joint-signature arrangement that Gatchalian rejected.
