Jamaine Punzalan

The House prosecution panel address the media following the second pre-trial proceedings of the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate of the Philippines on June 22, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

VP SARA IMPEACHMENT- PROSECUTION

Vivienne Gulla

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178220932808820260622-vp-sara-impeachment-prosecution-presscon-MT8.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">The House prosecution panel address the media following the second pre-trial proceedings of the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate of the Philippines on June 22, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA — The House prosecution panel is seeking additional days and teams to complete the pre-trial conference on Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment case within the week.</p><p>Lead House impeachment prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro said the marking of “voluminous” documentary evidence was taking time, that is why the prosecution proposed to the Senate impeachment clerk of court to allow the process to continue on June 26, Friday, and June 27, Saturday.</p><p>The pre-trial conference was originally scheduled from June 18 to June 25.</p><p>The House prosecution is also requesting to double the teams to speed up the marking of thousands of documents.</p><p>“Sana pumayag ‘yung Impeachment Court, sana pumayag din ‘yung Defense, because I think we are aligned, we have expressed the common position to start the trial on July 6. So, tingin ko naman very much feasible ‘yun, providing additional teams for the marking of exhibits. Right now, it&#x27;s four, sana maging eight… i-double natin ‘yung teams, and instead of concluding on Thursday, kahit holiday or kahit rest day… we are requesting to consider Friday and Saturday also to continue the marking of exhibits for both the prosecution and the defense,” Luistro said.</p><p>“Doon po lamang sa confidential fund, more or less, we are talking of 4,000 documents to be marked on the part of the prosecution. So medyo mahaba po, maraming dokumento. Kaya nga po kami po ay humihingi ng karagdagang araw at kung papayagan din kami ay additional teams,” House Impeachment Prosecutor Joel Chua added.</p><p>As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, House Impeachment Prosecutor Terry Ridon said they were “midway” through the marking of documents on the articles alleging unexplained wealth and confidential fund misuse.</p><p>“Nagtatagal, kasi voluminous po talaga ‘yung documents. And more importantly, ‘yung mga pahina, talagang napakarami po. So, each and every page will have to be signed by the Prosecution, by the Defense, and by the Senate Clerk of Court,” he said.</p><p>“Pangalawa, siyempre mayroon po kaming common documents and evidence. So, ibig sabihin, for the same set of evidence, we have to do it twice. So, I think that&#x27;s one of the reasons why talaga pong mahaba itong proseso po na ito,” Ridon added.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>COMMON EVIDENCE</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Ridon said the prosecution respects the defense’s position to have separate marking of common evidence, even if it could possibly “delay” the completion of the pre-trial conference “by a few days”.  </p><p>But Luistro said if the defense agrees to single examination for common evidence, it could reduce the time spent on the marking process.</p><p>“The position of the Defense is to have their own marking in their separate set of documents. So, you can imagine how time-consuming is this. Magkakaroon ng comparison of document before marking, one for the prosecution, and next for the Defense,” she said.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z8gVum8INbY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>ON TRACK</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Despite this, Luistro and Ridon are optimistic that the impeachment proceedings remain “on track” for the July 6 start of the trial.</p><p>“So long as ma-issue ang pre-trial order before July 6, I am positive that we will be able to push through with the original schedule for the start of the trial,” she said.</p><p>“Matatapos itong pre-trial proceedings po na ito. The last page of the last document will be signed by the prosecution, defense and by the Clerk of Court, at hindi po ito aabot ng lagpas July 6. So the pre-trial order will most definitely be issued as soon as we&#x27;re done, at magtutuloy po ‘yung July 6 trial as scheduled,” he said.</p><p>But Ridon finds “laughable” that the defense is supposedly “using the same set of evidence” from the House Committee on Justice proceedings, which Duterte’s camp has “questioned from the beginning”.</p><p>The prosecution had asked the Senate Impeachment Court to <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/6/22/house-prosecution-wants-duterte-camp-to-specify-purpose-of-witnesses-1747">require the defense to specify the purpose for its witnesses.</a></p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/6/23/sara-duterte-camp-denies-mirroring-prosecution-witnesses-for-impeachment-trial-1337">Sara Duterte camp denies ‘mirroring’ prosecution witnesses for impeachment trial</a></div><p>“Ito pong listahan ng witnesses at documents ay essentially nagmumula sa House Justice proceedings na kine-question po nila from the very beginning… Nakakatawa ‘yun eh… The Defense should come from independent witness lists and evidence lists,” Ridon asserted.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1R3bKOhO6QU?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QkExZaAR_9c?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The House prosecution panel is seeking additional days and teams to complete the pre-trial conference on Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment case within the week.</p>

The House prosecution panel is seeking additional days and teams to complete the pre-trial conference on Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment case within the week.

House prosecution seeks addtional days, teams to complete Duterte pre-trial conference this week

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House prosecution seeks addtional days, teams to complete Duterte pre-trial conference this week

Vivienne Gulla,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 23, 2026 06:14 PM PHT

Read More:

House of Representatives

Sara Duterte

pre trial conference

impeachment

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