MANILA Rep. Joel Chua, lead prosecutor in the alleged misuse of P612.5 million confidential funds case against Vice President Sara Duterte, said that the first day of the impeachment trial will focus first on resolving motions and delivering opening statements, with evidence presentations to begin likely on the second day of proceedings.
Speaking during an interview on the Insiders Podcast, Chua laid out the procedures to expect starting July 6 as the Senate impeachment court prepares to try the case against the vice president.
“Unang una, ineexpect natin ‘yung mga motion namin magkaroon ng ruling. Tapos at least ‘yung presiding officer malaman na rin natin kung sino talaga, ma-settle na natin. Tapos magkakaroon ng opening statement from both sides. Wala pang presentation ng mga witness, formalities muna. So sa second day, doon pa lang magsisimula,” Chua said.
During the five-day pre-trial conference, the 11-member House prosecution panel filed multiple motions on procedural and evidentiary issues. The most contentious involve whether both public and private prosecutors may participate in proceedings and whether a sealed Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) box containing Duterte and her husband’s tax records should be opened.
According to Chua, the vice president’s defense team pushed back against the prosecution’s bid to have both public and private prosecutors participate.
“Isa ‘yan as motion namin, to allow one public and one private [prosecutor]. Pero ayaw nila, inoobjectan nila ngayon. Gusto nila as much as possible public lang, syempre lamang sila doon,” Chua said of the defense position, noting that in impeachment cases, such access has historically been permitted.
On the sealed BIR box, however, the defense has shown flexibility, agreeing to its opening on the condition that it be done behind closed doors during an executive session.
“Pagdating naman sa trial mismo, pwede naman nila objectan kung sa tingin nila hindi [dapat buksan]. Although sa kanilang comment naman, agree naman na sila na pabuksan ‘yung box. Kaya lang may subject to certain conditions. Kailangan during executive session,” he added.
The clerk of court was unable to decide on these motions during the pre-trial conference since he only serves as receiver during the marking of evidence, Chua said. So, for the prosecution team, such motions should be addressed before the presentation of evidence and witnesses.
“Well in fairness to the clerk of court, hindi naman siya talaga pupwedeng magdecide. Receiver lang siya,” Chua noted.
The prosecution has deferred final comment on the unsealing of the BIR box, preferring to wait for the impeachment court’s ruling. “Kaya nga ito naman ayaw ko namang mag-comment kasi antayin na lang natin ‘yung desisyon. Ayaw ko naman pangunahan ‘yung magiging desisyon ng impeachment court,” Chua said.
Apart from these, the prosecution also moved to allow both English and Filipino during the trial, especially during witness cross-examinations. Chua explained that standard practice requires English unless Tagalog is explicitly requested, with interpreters available as needed.
“So ‘yan ang ilan sa mga sinubmit natin, plus ‘yung use of Filipino tsaka ng English,” he said, noting the prosecution sought to formalize the use of Filipino “para mas maintindihan ng mga kababayan.”
However, even before these motions were introduced, Chua said the pre-trial conference stretched beyond the expected two days because the defense insisted on separately marking each piece of evidence — a choice that dramatically slowed the handling of thousands of documents.
“Kaya medyo tumagal ‘yan kasi yung defense gusto nila separate marking,” Chua said. Instead of a streamlined process, separate markings require comparison, individual signing by defense counsel, prosecution team, and the clerk of court.
“Unang una, may comparison tapos ‘pag nagcomparison na, magkakaroon ng markahan, pagka nagkamarkahan pipirmahan pa ‘yan ng defense, pipirmahan ng prosecution, pipirmahan ng clerk of court,” he added.
With some 4,000 documents needed to be marked, which were mostly acknowledgement receipts tied to confidential fund transactions, the request for a separate marking roughly doubled the workload. “Imbis na five minutes o ano lang, madodoble ‘yung time eh. We are talking here of ano 4,000 documents. So biglang ‘yung 4,000 naging 8,000,” Chua said.
The cases of alleged misuse of confidential funds and unexplained wealth required longer evidence marking than the bribery and threats because of the numerous documents, financial records, and reports involved.
Duterte’s impeachment trial is set to commence on July 6 and is expected to run for about three months after the Senate impeachment court approved a 92-day trial schedule.
