MANILA – The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday objected to the prosecution’s request to change the order of witness presentation on the 36th day of her impeachment trial, saying the respondent should not be made to adjust because one of the prosecution lawyers was ill.
Defense lead counsel Sheila Sison raised the objection after House prosecutor Terry Ridon asked the Senate impeachment court to allow the financial analyst witness to testify ahead of the Bureau of Internal Revenue witness.
Ridon earlier said the lawyer assigned to present the BIR witness was suffering from a “maliit na sakit.”
Sison argued that the prosecution panel appeared to have enough lawyers present to proceed with the BIR witness as originally scheduled.
“The suggestion of the good senator to us would seem to be a bit unfair for the respondent because if the BIR witness now is here and there are, I will count, at least 13 prosecutors combined public prosecutors and counsel for the prosecution, I suppose that they met over the scope of the direct examination of the BIR witness,” Sison said.
She maintained that the defense should not bear the burden of adjusting its preparation because of the prosecution’s situation.
“The suggestion would now seem that ipapasa po sa amin ‘yung nangyaring ngayon na kami ‘yung mag-aadjust para dito samantalang naririto po at mukha naman pong kumpleto ang prosecution na pinagsanib ng mga public prosecutors at mga pribadong prosecutor,” she added.
The exchange came as the impeachment court continued hearing testimony and evidence related to the charges against Duterte.
The court was expected to rule on the requested change in the order of witnesses before proceeding with the day’s testimony.
