Sara Duterte defense team eyes 8 to 10 more witnesses in impeachment trial

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The defense team is planning to present at least eight more witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, counsel Michael Poa said Thursday.

In a press briefing, Poa said that the defense is trying to “speed things up” with regard to the presentation of evidence for Article II of the impeachment case, alleging Duterte’s unexplained wealth.

“Sa atin naman (for us), as long as we are able to make the points we want to make, to provide the Vice President with the best defense we can provide her, then we should be okay with that,” the defense lawyer said in a post-trial press conference.

Poa noted that the defense has two full trial days next week, after the break for the conduct of the 49th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, to present its remaining witnesses.

He said the defense would assess if they could finish its presentation of evidence by the end of next week so as to not lose the momentum when the trial goes on break anew to pave the way for the 2027 national budget deliberations.

“Kung maputol ‘yung testimony ng witness, meron tayong break for the budget plenary, mawawala ‘yung momentum plus baka hindi ma-fully appreciate hindi lang ng senator-judges, but pati ng publiko ‘yung sinusubukan nating gawin,” Poa explained.

(If the witnesses’ testimony gets cut, we’ll lose momentum, considering the upcoming break for the plenary budget deliberations. The public and the senator-judges might not also get to fully appreciate what we’re trying to do when that happens.)

“In fact, I would rather na…ma-cut short, meaning matapos kami nang mas maaga next week kaysa ‘yung mabitin siya in the end. So we're just trying to assess how to present witnesses na hindi makakasayang ng oras ng court, but at the same time hindi rin mapuputol for the long break,” he added.

(In fact, I would rather have our presentation of evidence be cut short, meaning we conclude earlier than expected, rather than leave it hanging. So, we are currently assessing how to present witnesses in a way that avoids wasting the court’s time, while also ensuring that their testimonies do not get affected by the long break.)

Impeachment court spokesperson Regie Tongol, meanwhile, said they expect that the remaining witnesses of the defense include a forensic expert, just like that of the prosecution at the end of the presentation of its own evidence.

“The impeachment court is assuming some or one or two of the witnesses that they said they will present out of the eight will be either ‘yung forensic analyst na ‘yun,” Tongol said in a separate press briefing. —NB, GMA News