Photo credit: Congress TV

The prosecution team in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is moving to speed up the handling of thousands of documentary exhibits, warning that the sheer volume of evidence—particularly on confidential funds—could slow down preparations ahead of the July 6 trial target.

House impeachment lead prosecutor Atty. Gerville Luistro of Batangas and Manila Rep. Joel Chua said Tuesday that the ongoing pre-trial conference has reached its third day, with both sides still in the lengthy process of marking evidence.

“As a matter of fact, we are on Day 3,” Luistro told reporters at the House of Representatives.

Luistro said the most pressing concern is the overwhelming number of documents tied to the confidential funds issue, which she described as “really voluminous.”

“I wish to share that indeed the documents for confidential fund is really voluminous,” she said.

According to the prosecution, the current pace of work raises uncertainty on whether the marking of all exhibits can be completed within the set timeline. Luistro said the team has already coordinated with Senate officials to explore ways to speed up the process while keeping the July 6 trial schedule intact.

At present, four teams are handling the marking of exhibits—one focused on the unexplained wealth allegations and three assigned to confidential funds documents.

“Right now, there are four teams who are facilitating the marking of exhibits,” Luistro said.

Despite this setup, Luistro said both public and private prosecutors have raised concerns that they may still fall short of finishing by Thursday without additional measures.

To address the backlog, the prosecution is considering expanding manpower and extending work beyond the Senate’s regular schedule.

“Ngayon na una we are contemplating on adding more teams and additional dates,” Chua said.

He added that even Friday and Saturday are being considered, depending on approval from the impeachment court.

“Alam namin na Friday and Saturday walang pasok ang Senado pero because of these voluminous documents, kino-consider na rin namin na pati ang Friday at Saturday kung papayagan tayo na magamit na rin,” Chua said.

Luistro said the scale of the evidence is significant, citing thousands of documents from both the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President.

She said there are around 1,900 documents linked to DepEd transactions and more than 2,000 from the OVP.

Luistro also explained that the process is taking longer because both the prosecution and defense are independently reviewing and marking documents, requiring side-by-side comparison before final tagging.

“Magkakaroon ng comparison of document before marking, one for the prosecution and next for the defense,” she said.

Beyond exhibit marking, Luistro said the prosecution is still finalizing several procedural requests it may bring before the impeachment court, including the possible early disclosure of witness lists, clearer participation rules for prosecutors, and access to sealed BIR-related materials, subject to court approval.

She said the team is still refining its position on these matters and may formally submit a manifestation soon.

“We will be finalizing our position regarding those matters and whatever will be the decision of the team, we might be filing a manifestation tomorrow,” Luistro said.

Luistro also noted that the prosecution has asked the defense to provide more detailed explanations for its listed witnesses, saying the current descriptions remain too broad to assess properly.

“Our comment to their purposes for which the witnesses are being presented are very general,” Luistro said.

She said the request is aimed at ensuring clarity and efficiency once the trial proper begins, as both sides prepare for what is expected to be a closely watched and document-heavy impeachment proceeding involving Sara Duterte.