Prosecution Counsel Atty. Erwin Matib on Thursday apologized to the Senate Impeachment Court, the senator-judges, the defense team, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) witness after the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte was delayed by his absence from the morning proceedings.
When the trial resumed Thursday afternoon, House public prosecutor and Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said the prosecution was ready to present the BIR witness, with Matib already in attendance.
Earlier, the prosecution asked the impeachment court to defer the presentation of the BIR witness because Matib, the designated presenting counsel, was ill. The defense opposed the request.
Matib then apologized to the Senate impeachment court, the senator-judges, the defense team, and the witness for missing the morning session due to illness.
“I would like to sincerely apologize to the presiding officer, and to all the senator-judges, as well as to our defense counsel and to our witness who has been waiting to testify today,” Matib said.
Matib is set to conduct the direct examination of the prosecution’s BIR witness on Duterte’s tax records.
Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz“ Escudero later allowed the prosecution to present the witness in the afternoon, provided that Matib would be able to attend.
“Let nothing further be said on the matter so that we don’t spend time on this matter anymore, and we can move on,” Escudero said.
The impeachment court had earlier directed the prosecution to designate another presenting counsel who could take over from Matib if he could not attend the afternoon session.
Otherwise, the court warned that it could adjourn early.
