HOUSE prosecutors on Monday asked the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, to allot 62 trial dates for its presentation of evidence and witnesses in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
The prosecution team’s legal spokesman, Benjamin Tolosa Jr., clarified that trial dates could be less than that number if the court allows more than one witness per day.
The defense team asked for 30 dates.
Tolosa said the prosecution and the defense teams had 51 common witnesses, 26 named and 35 unnamed. He said the parties had 248 common exhibits.
The Senate, as the impeachment court, will determine the number of trial dates in its pre-trial order.
The House, voting 257-25 with nine abstentions, impeached Duterte on May 11, 2026 over alleged misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth allegedly amassed, alleged bribery, and a public statement that she had contracted someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. if she herself were killed. The House then sent the impeachment articles to the Senate for trial.
Duterte denied the allegations in the two impeachment complaints heard by the House Committee on Justice but did not attend any hearings. The committee on April 29, 2026 found probable cause to impeach Duterte and sent the impeachment articles to the House plenary for action.
The impeachment trial is scheduled to start this July 6. Pre-trial proceedings have yet to be finished.
The prosecution team named Tolosa, a veteran trial lawyer, as its legal spokesman for the trial.
“As legal spokesperson, he will be speaking in behalf of the prosecution team, particularly with respect to the developments that are happening in the proceedings of the impeachment trial,” Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro, lead prosecutor, said in a press briefing on Monday.
Tolosa, founding and managing partner of the Tolosa, Lim and Chua law firm, had served as a senior associate at the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices.
He earned his law degree from the University of Santo Tomas and was among his graduating class’ top 10 students.
