With analyst being prosecution’s last witness, what’s next?

MANILA, Philippines — During Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Friday, the prosecution panel manifested through public prosecutor and Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno that the financial analyst they presented would be their last witness for Article II.

With Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores announcing that the prosecution has dropped Article III—which means that all articles would have been discussed already—what happens next?

According to Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, another public prosecutor, after the defense finishes with their cross-examination of financial forensic analyst Atty. Alexander Cabrera, along with possible re-direct examination and re-cross examination, the prosecution will present their formal offer of evidence.

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Ridon said that this will be a written document that will be submitted to the Senate Impeachment Court, which the defense can comment on.

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READ: VP Duterte’s total unexplained wealth at P817.87M – witness’ report

“Magkakaroon po ng formal offer of evidence ’yong prosecution. I-written naman po ito, so we will submit it as soon as it is ordered and then ’yong defense will be given an opportunity to make their comments,” he said.

(There will be a formal offer of evidence from the prosecution. This is a written document, so we will submit it as soon as it is ordered and then the defense will be given an opportunity to make their comments.)

After this, Ridon expects the defense to immediately start presenting their witnesses and evidence.

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“Pero tingin ko naman dapat wala hong makapigil na din ho do’n sa kanila pong presentation of their own sets of evidence on a per article basis. So we will give it to the court on what they would want to do with it,” Ridon explained.

(But I think there should be nothing that would stop the defense from presenting their own sets of evidence on a per-article basis. So we will give it to the court on what they would want to do with it.)

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“But hopefully, kasi kung halimbawa po matapos kami ng Monday completely, hopefully dapat within the week makapagsimula na rin po sila. Kasi alam naman na rin ho nila talaga ‘yong buong proseso na pinagdaanan ho natin. So our expectation is dapat makapagsimula na rin po sila sa pinakamagandang panahon,” he added.

(But hopefully, if, for example, we will end by Monday completely, hopefully within the week they could start. Because they know the entire process that we had to go through. So our expectation is that they should be able to start at the earliest possible time.)

Earlier, Flores confirmed that the prosecution has filed a manifesto before the Senate Impeachment Court stating that they will no longer present Article III of the Articles of Impeachment, or the allegations that she bribed different officials of the Department of Education (DepEd).

According to Flores, the team leader for Article III, the reason is that including Article III will no longer fit their timetable.

The bribery allegation against Duterte stemmed from the admission of former Education undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado, who told the House of Representatives’ committee on good government and public accountability last September 2024 that she received envelopes containing money — supposedly from Duterte.

Mercado said she saw it as a means to influence her, as she used to be DepEd’s head of procuring entity.

READ: Alleged ‘envelopes’ from Duterte may have aimed to influence ex-DepEd Usec

With the decision, only three articles remain:

• Article I or allegations that confidential funds within Duterte’s offices were misused
• Article II or the supposed unexplained wealth and non-disclosure in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth
• Article IV, grave threats against ranking officials of the government

The prosecution has finished presenting Article I and Article IV.

Talks about dropping an article were floated as early as July 16—in the second week of Duterte’s impeachment trial. In a briefing that day, public prosecutor and Manila Rep. Joel Chua said waiving an article is a possible way to increase the pace of the trial, should the prosecution see that their case is already solid.

Counsel for the prosecution Lorna Kapunan said that the prosecution for the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona did the same thing — presenting several articles but ultimately withdrawing one, and eventually presenting only two articles.

READ: Chua: If prosec is satisfied with case vs Duterte, waiving 1 article is possible

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Meanwhile, during the trial on Friday, Cabrera presented an analysis of Duterte’s financial transactions, testifying that an analysis of the Vice President’s cash assets and other business interests indicates that she did not declare a sum of P817,874,867 from 2022 to 2025. /cb