Impeachment Court spokesperson Reginald Tongol on Wednesday denied an online news report claiming that Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero is courting fellow senators to secure enough votes to convict Vice President Sara Duterte.

Tongol described the report as “totally untrue” and “preposterous,” saying Escudero himself laughed when asked about the allegation.

“I asked the presiding officer, natawa lang siya. Sabi niya, ‘Talaga lang tinatanong mo pa iyan sa akin?’ So that is completely untrue. Walang ganoong moves on his part,” Tongol said during an online press briefing.

Tongol said Escudero is focused on studying the impeachment case, including witness testimony, documents and resolutions that need to be issued by the court.

“He is busy and his time is taken up by reading and studying the case, both the witness testimony, the number of documents, atsaka yung mga resolutions na kailangan niyang ilabas,” Tongol said.

He added that Escudero has more resolutions to prepare because several trial dates were canceled due to bad weather.

Tongol also said it would be impractical for Escudero to begin lobbying senators at this stage of the proceedings, noting that the prosecution is only about halfway through presenting its case on Article 1.

The impeachment trial is expected to continue for several more weeks, with the prosecution still needing to tackle other articles before the defense presents its case and the senator-judges eventually vote.

“It's still too early and at the same time, yung case of the prosecution, kalahati pa lang rin sila dito sa article na to, no? Sa Article 1. So medyo preposterous yung ganong insinuation by parties,” Tongol said.

Tongol's remarks came as the impeachment court considers ways to make up for trial dates canceled because of inclement weather, including the possibility of extending daily trial hours.