MANILA, Philippines — Impeachment Court Presiding Officer Francis Escudero on Tuesday chided the defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte for “ghosting” the prosecution panel as it did not respond to repeated requests for a meeting to compare documents to be presented before the tribunal.
During the 14th day of Duterte's impeachment trial, House of Representatives private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan accused the defense team of ignoring a meeting request to stipulate documents, colloquially describing the brush-off as "inindian."
In making his ruling for the defense to submit their pre-marked evidence to the impeachment court to be studied by the senator-judges, Escudero told Kapunan that Duterte's lawyers may have “ghosted” her.
"Maybe you got ghosted because they didn’t respond to you. But having said that … the Chair[man] would like to request the counsels for respondent to kindly furnish the court with a copy of the marked pieces of evidence during pre-trial," Escudero said.
"So in lieu of meeting, kindly just submit that, Atty. Kristine [Ferrer], so that we can do the comparison ourselves either as a Court or through the individual Senator-Judges," he added.
Earlier in the day, the defense team argued that such comparison would not establish the competence of the prosecution’s witness to identify the records.
Ferrer said the defense would not object to the prosecution using a summary of the documents under Rule 130, Section 7 of the Rules on Evidence, but maintained that the witness must still establish in open court her competence to identify the underlying records.
“It doesn't even make their witness competent,” Ferrer told the Senate impeachment court.
The defense also argued that the authenticity of the exhibits should be addressed when the prosecution formally offers its evidence, when the defense can comment and raise objections.
Ferrer’s remarks came after prosecutor Lorna Kapunan pushed for the parties to use the defense’s exhibits to avoid spending more time comparing documents.
Kapunan said the prosecution wanted to ensure that succeeding witnesses could identify specific acknowledgment receipts without being challenged on the ground that the documents had only been presented through a summary.
Ferrer, however, maintained that even if the prosecution used the defense’s exhibits, the witness would still have to establish her competence to identify them.
The dispute formed part of the court’s effort to streamline the presentation of COA-related documents concerning the alleged irregularities in Duterte’s confidential fund disbursements.
Escudero directed the defense to furnish the court with copies of its pre-marked exhibits after the court failed to retain copies of all the defense documents during pre-trial.
Escudero said the court and senator-judges could then compare the prosecution and defense exhibits themselves.
The court subsequently allowed the prosecution to proceed with its witness using a summary of the documents, subject to the defense’s cross-examination.
