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House Seeks 62 Trial Dates In VP Sara Impeachment Case
Photo credit: House of Representatives of the Philippines
The House prosecution panel has asked the Senate impeachment court to set aside 62 trial dates for the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, more than double the 30 trial dates requested by the defense team.
The request was disclosed Monday by House legal spokesperson and private prosecutor Atty. Benjamin Tolosa Jr. during a press briefing at the Senate.
“The prosecution asked for 62 trial dates and the defense asked for 30,” Tolosa said.
However, he clarified that the request does not automatically mean the trial will run for 62 days. According to Tolosa, the proceedings could move faster depending on how the Senate impeachment court structures the schedule and whether multiple witnesses are allowed to testify in a single hearing day.
Tolosa also pointed to what he described as an interesting contrast in the defense’s pre-trial submissions.
“So it’s a question of how come they listed 97 witnesses but they only asked for 30 trial dates,” he said.
“Maybe it is an indication that there’s really no intention to produce all of those witnesses, but of course, we don’t want to pre-empt what actions they would want to do,” he said.
According to the prosecution, both sides share a significant number of witnesses. Tolosa said there are 51 common witnesses between the prosecution and defense panels, including 16 specifically named witnesses and 35 unnamed individuals identified by their offices or agencies.
Some of the defense witnesses, he noted, were listed only by office designation, including representatives from the Office of the Vice President and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The overlap also extends to documentary evidence.
“For the exhibits, we have 248 common exhibits, meaning 248 out of the 276 exhibits of the prosecution were basically copied also in their pre-trial brief or listed also as their evidence,” Tolosa said.
The prosecution panel is currently preparing evidence and witnesses as the impeachment case moves closer to trial.
Tolosa emphasized that the final schedule will ultimately be determined by the Senate impeachment court through its pre-trial order.
“We will see in the pre-trial order once it’s issued, the actual number of dates that will be allocated to each party,” Tolosa said.
The Senate impeachment court is currently conducting pre-trial proceedings, including the marking of evidence and resolution of procedural matters, ahead of the scheduled start of the impeachment trial.
The request was disclosed Monday by House legal spokesperson and private prosecutor Atty. Benjamin Tolosa Jr. during a press briefing at the Senate.
“The prosecution asked for 62 trial dates and the defense asked for 30,” Tolosa said.
However, he clarified that the request does not automatically mean the trial will run for 62 days. According to Tolosa, the proceedings could move faster depending on how the Senate impeachment court structures the schedule and whether multiple witnesses are allowed to testify in a single hearing day.
Tolosa also pointed to what he described as an interesting contrast in the defense’s pre-trial submissions.
“So it’s a question of how come they listed 97 witnesses but they only asked for 30 trial dates,” he said.
“Maybe it is an indication that there’s really no intention to produce all of those witnesses, but of course, we don’t want to pre-empt what actions they would want to do,” he said.
According to the prosecution, both sides share a significant number of witnesses. Tolosa said there are 51 common witnesses between the prosecution and defense panels, including 16 specifically named witnesses and 35 unnamed individuals identified by their offices or agencies.
Some of the defense witnesses, he noted, were listed only by office designation, including representatives from the Office of the Vice President and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The overlap also extends to documentary evidence.
“For the exhibits, we have 248 common exhibits, meaning 248 out of the 276 exhibits of the prosecution were basically copied also in their pre-trial brief or listed also as their evidence,” Tolosa said.
The prosecution panel is currently preparing evidence and witnesses as the impeachment case moves closer to trial.
Tolosa emphasized that the final schedule will ultimately be determined by the Senate impeachment court through its pre-trial order.
“We will see in the pre-trial order once it’s issued, the actual number of dates that will be allocated to each party,” Tolosa said.
The Senate impeachment court is currently conducting pre-trial proceedings, including the marking of evidence and resolution of procedural matters, ahead of the scheduled start of the impeachment trial.
Jun 22, 2026
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