HOUSE impeachment prosecutor Joel Chua of a Manila on Tuesday said the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte will proceed even if she personally chooses not to appear before the Senate impeachment court.
Speaking in an interview on ANC’s “Headstart”, Chua explained that under impeachment rules, the Senate’s writ of summons primarily requires the vice president to submit her answer to the articles of impeachment and enter her plea before the court.
“The impeachment court issued a writ of summons because the writ of summons, dalawa ang purpose niyan. One is for the vice president to appear before the impeachment court and the other one for her to submit the answer within 10 days,” Chua said.
According to the impeachment prosecutor, Duterte may choose to personally appear, authorize her lawyers to appear on her behalf, or decline to participate altogether as part of her legal strategy.
“Well, that depends on the legal strategy of the defense. So that is not for us to decide. Right now, the vice president is not under our consideration to be our hostile witness,” he added.
However, Chua explained that even if neither Duterte nor her lawyers appear before the impeachment court, proceedings will continue and the court will automatically enter a plea of not guilty for the vice president.
“Now, in the event that the vice president did not appear in the impeachment trial or her lawyer did not appear or no answer was submitted, the trial will proceed anyway, and a plea of not guilty will be entered for the vice president,” Chua said.
This was expressly provided under Senate Resolution No. 39, which adopted the rules of procedure governing impeachment trials for the 20th Congress.
He added that after the submission of pleadings, the impeachment court would proceed to pre-trial proceedings where evidence, witnesses, and trial issues would be formally identified before the actual trial begins.
“The purpose of the pre-trial is to prevent surprises,” Chua said.
“So ito na ‘yung paguusapan what are the issues to be tackled during the trial proper. So here, there will be marking of evidence, there will be identification of the issues at saka ‘yung mga witnesses,” he added.
While Duterte is not required to personally testify, Chua said public expectations for answers regarding the allegations against her remain high.
“I don’t think it will help on their part. Considering that people are asking for her explanation. So I think it would be best on the part of the vice president to explain everything,” he said.
Chua also addressed concerns surrounding the recent change in Senate leadership, where several members of the new majority bloc are considered politically aligned with Duterte and may attempt to stop trial proceedings.
Despite these concerns, the House prosecutor said he continues to give the Senate the benefit of the doubt since senators on Monday formally convened the impeachment court and took an oath to act impartially as judges during the proceedings.
“I have no reason right now to believe otherwise,” Chua said.
“Sa ngayon, wala naman tayong aasahan kundi umasa nalang muna that they will do their job and that they will do their constitutional duty,” he added.
Chua emphasized that the prosecution panel’s primary request is simply for the Senate to allow the presentation of evidence during the trial.
“Ang hiling lang namin is for us to be given the opportunity to present our evidence before the Senate trial,” he said.
A two-thirds vote, or at least 16 of the 24 senator-judges, is required to convict the vice president on the impeachment charges against her. Failing to secure the required votes would result in Duterte’s acquittal.
The House impeached Duterte for a second time on May 11 by a landslide vote of 257-25, with nine abstentions, comfortably surpassing the one-third constitutional threshold required to elevate the case to the Senate.
The articles of impeachment accuse the vice president of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds, failing to properly disclose her true wealth in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs), committing bribery during her tenure as Education secretary, and making grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.
