San Juan City Lone District Representative Ysabel Maria Zamora clarified that lawyers representing Vice President Sara Duterte are not allowed to cross-examine witnesses during the ongoing preliminary impeachment investigation, as it is not yet a trial.
“Well, we are limited by this preliminary investigation. We are there to check the veracity,” Zamora said in a television interview.
“They (defense lawyers) are not allowed to cross, to ask questions for the very reason that this is a preliminary investigation. And even in a prosecutor’s office, the parties or their counsels are not allowed to do that.”
Zamora added that even the lawyers of the complainants cannot ask questions, and only members of the House Committee on Justice may conduct the questioning.
The committee has scheduled its next hearings on April 14, 22, and 29. If Vice President Duterte is impeached, the House of Representatives of the Philippines will transmit the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate of the Philippines for trial, where Duterte’s lawyers may then question witnesses.
Among those summoned by the Justice Committee is Ramil Madriaga, who reportedly served as a former “bagman” for the vice president.
Zamora said the committee will coordinate with the courts and law enforcement agencies to bring Madriaga to the House impeachment hearings so legislators can verify the truthfulness of his statements.
Madriaga is currently detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in connection with a kidnap-for-ransom case.