THE House prosecution said Tuesday the Senate impeachment court’s rejection of its bid to require Vice President Sara Z. Duterte to admit or deny matters involving her bank and financial records will not derail its case against her.
“This is not a setback, I think,” House prosecutor San Juan City Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora said during the prosecution’s trial-break press briefing.
“You know, even if the ruling was adverse to the prosecution, I think we will still continue with the strategy, the plan of the prosecution,” she added.
The impeachment court sustained the defense’s objection to requiring Vice President Duterte to respond to the prosecution’s Request for Admission covering 104 matters, including the authenticity of subpoenaed bank records and ownership of accounts identified in them.
Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero ruled that the procedure could not override the Vice President’s constitutional right against self-incrimination.
The court held that she need not answer the request and that her failure to respond cannot be treated as an admission. Escudero also stressed that prosecutors cannot use the procedure to shift their burden of proving the impeachment charges to the respondent.
The court, however, declined to expunge the request. The request, the defense objection and the ruling will remain in the record, but the unanswered matters will have no evidentiary, factual or prejudicial effect against the Vice President.
House impeachment adviser and spokesperson Ace Barbers said prosecutors would continue pursuing the underlying bank records as evidence.
“We’re glad that they’ve ruled that they will accept and admit the records as part of the evidence that the prosecution panel will deliberate on,” Barbers said.
He said the records would help shed light on financial transactions being examined under Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which covers allegations of unexplained wealth.
“Magandang development ’yan dahil, in the first place, tayo nga’y nag-request—ang prosecution nga nag-request—na ito ay ma-subpoena, nang sa ganoon ay mapag-usapan at magkaroon ng kalinawan tungkol dito sa usapin ng mga bank records na ito,” Barbers said.
The impeachment court earlier authorized subpoenas for bank, tax and Anti-Money Laundering Council records after finding the requested documents prima facie relevant and material to the unexplained wealth allegations.
Prosecutors are now preparing voluminous records submitted by around 10 banks in compliance with the subpoenas.
The Request for Admission was intended to narrow the disputed issues and avoid calling additional witnesses solely to authenticate the records and establish account ownership.
Prosecutors withdrew the request Monday and instead proposed that the defense agree to stipulations covering the existence of the accounts, the banks’ compliance with the court subpoenas and the authenticity of the documents they submitted.
Barbers said the prosecution is still pursuing the proposed stipulations to shorten the presentation of evidence.
Without an agreement, prosecutors may have to call representatives of the banks individually to identify and authenticate the records before the impeachment court.
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