THE House prosecution panel will present more than 30 witnesses in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, with some witness identities and documentary evidence potentially withheld from public disclosure at the pre-trial stage for security and procedural reasons, lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro of Batangas said Monday.
Speaking ahead of the filing of the prosecution’s pre-trial brief, Luistro said the witness list grew after prosecutors decided to include additional individuals whose testimony could help establish the allegations contained in the Articles of Impeachment.
“It is more than 25. The witnesses are not only 25, they’re not only 30, they’re even more,” Luistro told reporters in a press conference.
She said the prosecution opted to broaden its witness pool because impeachment rules generally require witnesses to be identified during pre-trial proceedings before they can be allowed to testify.
“It is because we recognize the rule that only those witnesses whose names were submitted during pre-trial will be allowed to testify during the trial,” Luistro said.
“So before we were trying to limit corroborative witnesses, we were selecting only the most important witnesses, we wanted to make sure that all testimony will be presented in court, and that is why we considered other witnesses whose testimony is likewise significant.”
The pre-trial brief, which prosecutors were set to file Monday, will include proposed stipulations of fact, a witness list and documentary evidence intended for presentation before the Senate impeachment court.
Luistro said impeachment rules also allow parties to reserve certain witnesses and evidence, provided they sufficiently describe their relevance and intended purpose.
The mechanism, she said, is intended to address security concerns involving witnesses and situations where documents are not yet available during pre-trial.
Impeachment prosecutor and San Juan City Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora said this flexibility allows parties to withhold the identities of certain witnesses while still informing the court about the nature of their testimony.
“While the general rule is that we have to list down all of the names of the witnesses that we will be presenting during trial, we are allowed to withhold certain names for security and safety purposes,” Zamora said.
“We are also allowed to make a reservation of witnesses as long as we are able to give a description of the witness and the purpose for which they will be presented.”
The issue arose after reporters asked whether bank officials would be called to testify on allegations involving unexplained wealth.
Zamora said the prosecution may choose not to publicly identify such witnesses at this stage but could describe their positions and the purpose of their testimony in the pre-trial brief.
“So, regarding the bank officials, for example, it is possible that we will not yet say the names of these persons, but there will be a description of their position and/or the purpose of their testimony,” she said.
Luistro, meanwhile, said bank representatives and bank records have long been part of the evidence the House intends to present in support of its case.
The prosecution is also preparing extensive documentary evidence, particularly for the impeachment articles involving alleged misuse of confidential funds and unexplained wealth, which Luistro earlier described as among the most document-heavy portions of the case.
The Senate impeachment court is scheduled to hold its pre-trial conference on June 18, ahead of the start of trial on July 6.
