At the start of the 36th day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Oct. 8, public prosecutor and Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon asked the impeachment court to allow forensic financial analyst Atty. Alex Cabrera to testify first, as private prosecutor Atty. Erwin Matib, who was assigned to conduct the direct examination of the BIR witness, was ill.
“May ipinakikiusap lang po ang prosecution na i-una po ‘yong financial analyst sa presentasyon po ngayong araw kasi ‘yong presenting lawyer po for the BIR witness, meron pong maliit na sakit,” Ridon said.
The request, however, was opposed by defense lead counsel Atty. Sheila Sison, who said the defense had prepared for the BIR witness to testify first based on the prosecution’s previously announced order of witnesses.
Sison described the request as an “ultra-belated notice,” saying the defense had structured its questions and trial strategy around the scheduled BIR testimony.
“Ngayon lang po namin nalaman ito at parang kami po ‘yung mag-a-adjust sa kakulangan ng prosekusyon ngayong araw,” Sison said.
“We don’t know if this belated notice, ultra-belated notice, will suffice to afford the respondent the opportunity to prepare for their supposed forensic financial analyst,” she added.
Sison also argued that the personal circumstances of the lawyers should not affect the proceedings.
“Marami rin po sa amin who feel unwell, but nandirito kami sapagkat may trabahong kailangang tapusin,” she said.
The prosecution maintained that the BIR testimony involves highly technical matters and that Matib was the lawyer most familiar with the issues, making his presence necessary.
Ridon said the prosecution would monitor Matib’s condition and determine whether he would be able to appear before the Senate later in the day.
Presiding Officer Francis Joseph “Chiz” Escudero eventually accepted Senator-Judge Vicente "Tito" Sotto III’s suggestion to advance the lunch break.
Escudero said the BIR witness could be presented on Friday if Matib remained unavailable and the prosecution did not want another lawyer to conduct the direct examination.
“If Atty. Erwin is not available and you do not wish to present the witness using another counsel then we will call it, as I said, ‘wag niyo akong hamunin, an early day for today,” Escudero said.
“We will hopefully be able to present the BIR witness tomorrow with or without Atty. Erwin as the first witness,” he added.
The Senate is scheduled to hold its regular session at 1 p.m., while the impeachment trial was expected to resume at 2:30 p.m. for the BIR witness’ testimony.
If the prosecution could not proceed with the BIR witness’ direct examination because of Matib’s absence, the trial would end early Thursday and resume Friday.
