Ridon: Prosecution ready for whole-day impeachment trial

MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution panel for the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte remains ready to present their evidence as the Senate Impeachment Court looks to shift towards a whole-day trial for October, public prosecutor and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said.

Ridon, in a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex on Wednesday, also thanked the impeachment court for providing all parties a one-day break to rest and prepare for the grueling proceedings.

The Senate Impeachment Court announced on Tuesday night through its spokesperson Atty. Regie Tongol that the trial on Wednesday will be postponed to give way for a “strategic procedural pause” given that the proceedings are “aggressively ahead of schedule.”

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“We thank the Senate Impeachment Court because they gave all sides a pause today so that we can prepare for the whole day hearings that will start tomorrow up to the middle of October,” Ridon told reporters.

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READ: Impeachment court cancels Wednesday trial, says ‘ahead of schedule’

“But despite that, the prosecution panel is ready to present witnesses and lay down evidence for tomorrow and Friday, as we have listed certain witnesses, like LRA (Land Registration Authority) officials, the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) executive director, and former Senator Sonny Trillanes,” he added.

Ridon said that they do not think the postponement of Wednesday’s trial will delay the proceedings, agreeing with Tongol’s view.

“I think we will not be under delay, like what the Senate Impeachment Court spokesperson mentioned, in fact we are on a fast pace in terms of our witness presentation,” he said.

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Senate’s advice

Ridon, co-leader of the team handling Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, also said during the briefing that they are seriously considering the advice of the Senate Impeachment Court regarding the presentation of witnesses.

During the trial on Tuesday, Ridon manifested that they will be calling Trillanes first before the LRA officials and AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura. However, Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero said it might be better for the AMLC official to be presented first so there will be a baseline for Trillanes’ testimony.

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“We are taking under strict advisement the remarks of the Senate Impeachment Court yesterday regarding the sequencing of the witnesses. So hopefully within the day and up until the start of the proceedings tomorrow, we can lay down the actual sequencing of witnesses to be presented tomorrow.,” Ridon said.

Ridon explained that the reason why they wanted to call Trillanes to the witness stand first before AMLC is because the former senator would testify to matters that were not discussed during the hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on justice, when it discussed the two impeachment complaints against Duterte.

However, they are willing to adhere with the impeachment court’s advice as there may be a reason behind its preference to hear the AMLC official’s testimony first.

“Well, as we have mentioned, he (Trillanes) will be discussing not only what the Senate Impeachment Court mentioned — the bank accounts-related testimony which they supposedly want the AMLC to start with.  That’s the first thing.  Second, he will also be talking about non-House justice committee proceedings matters,” Ridon said.

“I think there is every reason for Senator Trillanes to actually be placed first in the list.  But like what I stated, if it is a real concern of the Senate Impeachment Court that they would want to see AMLC first, so that we will field them jointly, and there will be logical sequencing regarding bank accounts-specific testimony, then it is something that we will consider today,” he added.

The testimony of Trillanes and Buenaventura are considered by the prosecution as crucial to building the case for Article II, which deals with Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth and her supposed failure to include it in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

During the April 22 hearing of the House committee on justice, Trillanes was called as a resource person, to shed light on his claims that the vice president and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, had bank accounts hidden from the public.

Trillanes presented several bank accounts during the April 22 hearing. Later on, the AMLC through Buenaventura confirmed that several financial transactions mentioned by Trillanes were the same fund movements that they have flagged or monitored.

The confirmation came after Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima randomly picked 18 financial transactions listed in Trillanes’ annexes and asked AMLC to check if this was part of their investigation.

Eventually, Buenaventura confirmed that 18 out of 18 randomly-picked transactions in Trillanes’ annexes matched the AMLC’s records.

READ: Trillanes vindicated: AMLC confirms Sara Duterte’s 18 transactions 

But prior to this confirmation from AMLC, Buenaventura also told the committee that they found covered and suspicious transactions made by Duterte and her relatives amounting to P6.7 billion.

This includes a total of P4.4 billion in inflows and P1.5 billion worth of outflows.

READ: AMLC confirms suspicious transactions made by Sara Duterte, kin 

Buenaventura clarified that covered transactions are bank transactions over P500,000, which banks report to the council. Suspicious transactions, meanwhile, refer to those whose amounts are not determined, but were reported by banks because there is something questionable in terms of how funds were sourced. /das