VP Duterte: No summons yet to testify in impeachment trial

Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday said she has yet to receive any notice requiring her to appear as a witness in her impeachment trial before the Senate.

Duterte made the statement after prosecutors announced that they plan to call her to testify before the impeachment court. Asked in Quezon City whether she would appear if summoned, Duterte did not give a definite answer.

“Wala pa namang papel o dokumento na nagsasabing kailangan ko mag-appear as witness for the prosecution,” she said in an interview Friday morning.

The Vice President is facing impeachment charges over the alleged misuse of confidential funds, bribery of public officials, unexplained wealth, and threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the President’s cousin.

The alleged threats are also the subject of a separate criminal case before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98, where Duterte appeared personally on Friday for her arraignment. The proceedings, however, were deferred after her lawyers filed a motion.

Duterte also weighed in on the Senate impeachment court’s plan to revisit the number of votes needed to convict or acquit her, an issue that arose amid the absence and detention of several senator-judges.

The impeachment court is expected to rule on the matter on Sept. 23.

Duterte maintained that the Senate had already committed to following the constitutional provisions governing impeachment proceedings.