Trillanes may be next witness in Duterte impeachment trial on Sept. 30

MANILA, Philippines — The House prosecution panel may present former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Wednesday as their next witness in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, though presiding officer Francis Escudero advised against it.

Trillanes, expected to testify on Duterte’s alleged acquisition of funds, was originally scheduled to testify after officials from the Anti–Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and various banks. However, the House prosecution requested to move up his presentation to Wednesday.

Escudero advised the prosecution to stick to their original sequence and await the testimony of the bank and AMLC officials.

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“The court would like to remind the prosecution to take in advisement what the court will say: The cart cannot be put ahead of the horse. It will be best, as originally planned by the prosecutors in their motion itself, to present at the very least the AMLC officer and/or the bank officials or the bank records, given that the testimony of the former Sen. Trillanes will pertain to that,” Escudero said.

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READ: Trillanes attends impeachment trial as Baste Duterte set to testify

Still, the presiding officer noted that the prosecution is free to call Trillanes voluntarily without a subpoena.

“I guess you can invite him tomorrow if you will indeed present him tomorrow… The court cannot prevent you from calling a witness in the proper order that you may deem fit in the course of the presentation of your evidence,” Escudero told the prosecution.

Although the defense initially objected to altering the schedule, lead defense counsel Atty. Sheila Sison announced after a brief recess that they would allow Trillanes to testify.

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“If we had withdrawn our objection and they want to present the former Sen. Trillanes tomorrow, then they should just do that,” Sison told the court.

Escudero reminded the court that it could still issue a ruling on the matter on Wednesday if necessary.

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Public prosecutor Rep. Terry Ridon explained that the prosecution intended to present the AMLC and bank executives first, but had been awaiting a court ruling issued earlier that day.

“We would have wanted to present the banks in the soonest time, but the matter relating to the admission has only been resolved today. The earliest we can request a subpoena is actually on Friday,” he said.

Ridon was referring to the prosecution’s request for Duterte to admit 104 matters regarding her and her spouse’s financial records and personal circumstances.

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The court denied the request, citing the vice president’s right against self-incrimination. /mcm