‘Last minute’ witness switch sparks debate, halts impeachment trial

MANILA — The Senate impeachment court suspended its Thursday morning trial after the prosecution sought a last-minute switch of witnesses, drawing strong opposition from Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense panel, which called the move “unfair.” 

Early in the proceedings, public prosecutor Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon asked the impeachment court to allow financial analyst Alexander Cabrera to testify first, replacing the prosecution’s originally scheduled witness from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Ridon explained that private prosecutor Erwin Matib, who was supposed to present the BIR witness, had suddenly fallen ill.

However, lead defense counsel Sheila Sison objected to the request, saying her team had already prepared to cross-examine the BIR witness.

Presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero and Sison also noted that Cabrera had yet to be subpoenaed for his testimony.

“This is really unfair for the prosecution to just replace its witness at the last minute and expect us to examine that witness today,” Sison said.

“Our schedule for today is for the BIR witness and to presume that we will be able to complete our cross-examination only in one day of the BIR witness is actually premature, Your Honor, because we fully intend and we prepared exhaustively for the cross-examination of the BIR witness,” she told Escudero.

After about 40 minutes of debate and discussions, including two brief suspensions to allow senator-judges to deliberate, Escudero ultimately decided to suspend the morning trial session.

The impeachment trial will instead resume at around 3 p.m. with the presentation of the BIR witness, following the Senate’s legislative session at 1 p.m.

Escudero said that if Matib remains unavailable by the afternoon and no other prosecutor can present the BIR witness, the court will suspend proceedings for the rest of the day and hear the witness on Friday, maintaining the original order of witnesses.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri also suggested hearing the BIR witness before the financial analyst to provide a “clearer” picture, calling the order a “logical step.”

Before his final decision, Escudero initially ruled that Cabrera could undergo direct examination covering “mostly preliminary matters and qualifications,” as he was to testify as an expert witness. 

Sison, however, maintained that the move would be unfair to the defense.

“It would now seem to me that this adjustment made by the court in allowing the presentation of the witness (Cabrera)… is really asking the respondent, and forgive me for using this term bluntly, to adjust to the situation of the prosecution,” Sison said.

“Despite the fact that it is not the respondent’s fault that we are now in this situation, I am sure the court will understand if I will say that this is very unfair,” she said.

Sison earlier argued that other members of the prosecution panel could “take charge of the work left by one of their colleagues,” assuming the prosecutors had already discussed the scope of the BIR witness’ direct examination.

The impeachment court is examining the bank records of Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, amid allegations that the vice president amassed unexplained wealth, failed to fully disclose her assets and did not divest her business interests while in office.