QUEZON CITY, Philippines — Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville Luistro, lead prosecutor for the House panel in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, clarified that recent modifications to their witness lineup were motivated by court guidance and trial developments rather than tactics to disrupt the defense.
Addressing criticisms from Duterte’s legal team regarding repeated schedule adjustments, Luistro stressed during a television interview that the prosecution merely reordered witness appearances rather than introducing last-minute additions.
“Hindi naman malicious ang pagbabago ng order of presentation of witnesses,” Luistro said.
Among the adjustments was the removal of former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who was originally scheduled to testify on the Vice President’s finances before stepping down from the witness list. Luistro explained that the impeachment tribunal itself had advised presenting officials from the Anti-Money Laundering Council and financial institutions prior to Trillanes, a directive the House panel followed.
The trial schedule experienced further delays when the prosecution sought to have Duterte’s bank documents admitted directly, aiming to bypass individual authentication by witnesses.
“So ’yung two weeks na ’yun, natenga ’yun because we were hoping na i-admit nila. After all, these are documents of the respondent Vice President. And then it turned out na denied lahat,” Luistro explained.
With the defense team, led by Atty. Shiela Sison, ultimately rejecting the request for admission during the two-week window, prosecutors had to restructure their lineup to call witnesses to authenticate the financial records before the court.
The defense had previously challenged the late revisions to the witness list. However, prosecution team member and Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Terry Ridon noted that Trillanes was previously identified as a potential witness in an earlier filing.
Although Sison later withdrew her objection and expressed readiness for cross-examination, Trillanes subsequently requested his withdrawal as a witness and instead aired his allegations in a separate press conference.