The prosecution panel has dropped Article III of the Articles of Impeachment, which accuses Vice President Sara Duterte of bribing Department of Education (DepEd) officials, from its presentation of evidence, House public prosecutor and Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores said on Friday.
Flores, leading the prosecution team for Article III, said they filed a manifestation with the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday informing it of their decision to no longer pursue the bribery allegations.
“We already filed our manifestation last Tuesday pa that we will be dropping bribery,” Flores said during a press briefing.
He clarified that the decision was not based on the strength of the evidence against Duterte but on the prosecution panel’s timetable for presenting its case.
“It had nothing to do with the decision not to proceed with the bribery. It had nothing to do with the strength of the case,” Flores said.
“Ang amin dito, we are conscious about the timetable that the prosecution set for us to prosecute the entire articles of impeachment, kaso hindi na siya kasya o pasok doon sa timetable that we set to ourselves,” he added.
Flores said the prosecution did not need the court’s approval to drop the article, as it only had to inform the Senate impeachment court of its decision not to present further evidence on the allegations.
He maintained that the move would not weaken the prosecution’s case, saying the panel had already presented sufficient evidence on three other articles of impeachment involving unexplained wealth, misuse of confidential funds, and grave threats.
Flores added that continuing with the bribery allegations could unnecessarily prolong the proceedings and test the patience of both the public and the senator-judges.
“Ang timetable na sinasabi namin is that we think we have presented enough on all the three articles, and to drag it further pa na i-include pa namin ang bribery might be stretching the patience not only of the people but also of the senator-judges too long,” he said.
With Article III dropped, the prosecution’s remaining presentation of evidence will focus on the allegations of unexplained wealth under Article II.
[Reports from RH Milky Rigonan]
