HOUSE prosecutors will no longer pursue bribery allegations against Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, seeking to streamline impeachment proceedings and avoid prolonging the trial into next year.
Manila Rep. Joel R. Chua, one of the House prosecutors, confirmed the decision over DZMM TeleRadyo on Sunday, saying the panel believes evidence presented on the other three articles is sufficient.
“We think that three of the articles have already been sufficiently established, and we think that is enough so that we do not reach next year,” Mr. Chua said in Filipino. He denied that the decision was because the bribery allegation was weak. “No. It is not weak. We just think that the evidence we have presented is sufficient,” he said.
The allegation is contained in the third article of impeachment against Ms. Duterte, who is accused of bribing Department of Education officials during her tenure as Education secretary.
Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro said the decision was up to the prosecution if it believed dropping the allegation was the appropriate strategy.
“However, they included it in the articles of impeachment, which means they had sufficient evidence to discuss the bribery issue before the impeachment court,” Ms. Castro told reporters in a Viber group chat in Filipino.
“If they withdraw the bribery allegation against the Vice-President, would they not be shortchanging or disadvantaging Filipinos who would want to know the whole truth about this matter? Again, the decision is theirs,” she added.
Mr. Chua said dropping the article was a consensus among the prosecution team, which did not want the proceedings to become protracted.
The prosecution has also been reducing its list of witnesses, dropping those it considers redundant after determining that their expected testimony has already been covered by other witnesses.
Mr. Chua said remaining witnesses will include officials from the Anti-Money Laundering Council, banks, insurance companies, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue as prosecutors present evidence on the second article covering alleged unexplained wealth, non-disclosure, and failure to divest from business interests. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking