Defense and prosecution audit of receipts clears way for faster VP trial

MANILA – A comparative audit of thousands of acknowledgment receipts has narrowed the documentary disputes in Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s impeachment trial, potentially allowing the Senate impeachment court to move faster into the substantive examination of evidence under Article I.

Impeachment court spokesperson lawyer Regie Tongol said Monday the Clerk of Court found 3,616 acknowledgment receipts (ARs) common to both the prosecution and defense, reducing the number of documents that would require closer scrutiny.

“The meticulous comparison has successfully narrowed the evidentiary battleground,” Tongol said during a press briefing.

Of the common documents, 2,666 pertain to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and 950 to the Department of Education.

Every AR submitted by Duterte’s counsel had a corresponding copy among those presented by the House prosecution.

Tongol said establishing which documents are common to both parties could spare the court from spending hours on repetitive authentication and allow senator-judges to proceed to substantive questioning on the receipts.

A smaller batch, however, remains disputed.

Out of the 4,492 ARs submitted by the prosecution, 876 have no corresponding copies from the respondent, effectively identifying the documents where further evidentiary scrutiny could be concentrated.

“Moving forward, the senator-judges can focus their forensic scrutiny specifically on these 876 unmatched documents,” Tongol said.

The court also employed another shortcut by taking judicial notice of 11 official House of Representatives' records that were not previously included in requests for judicial notice, including OVP position papers and letters explaining absences from congressional hearings.

Tongol explained that taking judicial notice merely recognizes that the documents exist and were officially received, but does not mean that the court accepts the truth or legal validity of their contents.

With the defense also stipulating on the documents, the testimony of House prosecution witness Marivic Pareja was no longer necessary and she was excused at 10:27 a.m.

The House prosecution then began its direct examination of former OVP special disbursing officer Gina Acosta, its sixth witness for Article I, before the questioning was cut short due to limited time and inclement weather. -Philippine News Agency