Senator Escudero chides VP defense for ‘ghosting’ prosecution panel over evidence meeting

Senate Impeachment Court Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero criticized the defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte for ignoring prosecution attempts to organize a court-mandated meeting to mark and compare documentary evidence.

Due to the breakdown in communication, Escudero directed Duterte's lawyers to submit copies of their pre-marked evidence directly to the tribunal so that Senator-Judges could conduct the document comparison themselves.

Addressing lead prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan, Escudero quipped that the defense had effectively "ghosted" the prosecution panel.

“Hindi ka, Atty. Lorna, in-Indian. Baka ghinost ka kasi hindi ka sinagot,” Escudero said during the proceedings. “But having said that … the Chair would like to request the counsels for respondent to kindly furnish the court with a copy of the marked pieces of evidence during pre-trial.”

Turning to the defense, Escudero instructed them to bypass the proposed face-to-face meeting entirely and file the documents with the court.

“So in lieu of meeting, kindly just submit that, Atty. Kristine [Ferrer], so that we can do the comparison ourselves either as a Court or through the individual Senator-Judges,” he added.

During the previous Wednesday's session, the tribunal had directed both sides to meet on either Thursday or Friday of the same week to cross-examine their respective physical evidence and streamline what would be formally presented.

Kapunan informed the court that the prosecution reached out immediately following the directive, but received no reply.

“Ito po ang nangyari, na-Indian po kami,” Kapunan told the court. “Wednesday, we made a text message … ‘When do we meet? Tomorrow or Friday?’ Wala pang sagot ng Wednesday.”

According to Kapunan, the defense only responded near the end of business hours on Thursday—not to confirm a time, but to suggest meeting on Aug. 14 while simultaneously questioning whether Escudero had actually set a deadline for that week.

“Napakalinaw naman sa directive ng Presiding Officer na mag-agree on a date on Thursday or Friday of last week,” Kapunan argued. “That is bad faith, Your Honor, because sinabi ng Presiding Officer ang specific dates — Thursday or Friday last week. Wala daw sinabi ang Presiding Officer.”

-Paraluman News