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Gamesmanship galore: House prosecutor calls out another false claim about pre-trial conference
Philippines
National
Gamesmanship galore: House prosecutor calls out another false claim about pre-trial conference
Gamesmanship galore: House prosecutor calls out another false claim about pre-trial conference
Published Jun 23, 2026 11:37 pm
At A Glance
- The pre-trial conference for Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment will extend to a fourth day, slowed by thousands of pages of evidence requiring signatures from the prosecution, defense, and the Senate clerk of court.
- Defense lawyer Mark Vinluan accused public prosecutors of leaving early, but Rep. Terry Ridon denied this and stressed that the delays stemmed from documents' sheer volume.
- Rep. Gerville Luistro dismissed reports that she was outclassed as "fake news", with more such narratives expected by the prosecution before the July 6 trial start.
The House prosecution panel (Senate Facebook)
The gamesmanship between the prosecution and defense teams continues in the pre-trial conference (PTC) for Vice President Sara Duterte's upcoming Senate impeachment trial.
The PTC--which is entering a rather unexpected fourth day on Wednesday, June 23--has been held behind closed doors. But this hasn't stopped narratives from making their way to the media.
For day three of the PTC on Tuesday, June 23, the main talking point has been who is to blame for the snail-paced marking of the documentary evidence to be used in the high-stakes trial. And mind you, there are a lot of documents.
Lawyer Mark Vinluan, a member of Vice President Duterte's defense team, was quoted as saying Tuesday that the public prosecutors composed of the 11 lawyer-congressmen only attend the PTC in the morning.
"They just appear in the morning... and then they leave the rest of the task to the private prosecutors," he said. This makes it appear that the prosecution panel didn't have all hands on deck for the clerical task.
Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, one of the public prosecutors, called this baloney.
"Well, hindi ho totoo yun. Kasi ikatlong araw na ho, ako ho yung natatapos na nandito hanggang dulo eh. Hindi ho ba? Noong first daupy, ako ho yung nagsara nung pagpupulong nung araw. Kahapon, nandito rin ho ako nung dulo. Ngayong araw, anong oras na...nandito pa rin ho ako. So hindi yun totoo," Ridon told reporters.
(Well, that’s not true. Because it’s already the third day, and I’m the one who stays until the end here. Isn’t that right? On the first day, I was the one who closed the meeting. Yesterday, I was also here until the end. Today, look at the time…I’m still here. So that’s not true.)
As if to turn the tables on Vinluan, Ridon noted that lead defense counsel, lawyer Sheila Sison, wasn't even there. "What are they actually talking about again?" he asked rhetorically.
"Hopefully matapos po bukas, pero syempre hindi ho natin masabi dahil very voluminous po yung documents no. And yun pong kailangan pong gawin tulad ng binalita ay yun pong pagpirma ng prosecution, ng defense, at ng Senate clerk of court sa bawat pahina ng mga dokumento," explained Ridon.
(Hopefully it will be finished tomorrow, but of course we cannot say for sure because the documents are very voluminous. And what needs to be done, as reported, is the signing of the prosecution, the defense, and the Senate clerk of court on each page of the documents.)
Ridon continued: "Ibig sabihin, in as much as we would want to finish it in the soonest possible time...medyo mahirap pong gawin yun."
(This means that, as much as we would want to finish it at the soonest possible time…it is quite difficult to do.)
Not a manpower question
He underscored that it wasn't a manpower question like what was being insinuated by the defense.
Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)
"Kailangan natin maglinaw--it's not a manpower question. Firstly it is a volume question, sa dami ho ng mga kailangan pong pahina na pirmahan...pangalawa, yun pong mismong mga clerk of court sinasabi din ho nila na limited yung mga tao nila eh sa bagay po na ito," the party-list solon said.
(We need to clarify—it’s not a manpower question. Firstly, it is a volume question, given the sheer number of pages that need to be signed…secondly, the clerks of court themselves have said their personnel are limited when it comes to this matter.)
Lead prosecutor Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro gave reporters a picture of the scale of the documentary evidence.
She said the Department of Education (DepEd) payment-related documents number approximately 1,900, while those for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) are more than 2,000.
Luistro says the process is taking longer because the defense is seeking its own marking on a separate set of documents, requiring comparison before marking.
"So it was never a question of a lack of prosecutors, whether public or private prosecutors participating in the marking itself," Ridon further said.
Commenting on Tuesday's PTC, Ridon said there was "an overwhelming number of lawyers"..."on both sides".
"So what are we talking about here? The main stumbling block toward making this more efficient is yun pong dami po talaga ng pahina na pinag-uusapan natin dito (is the sheer number of pages that are involved)."
Fake news
After the first PTC at the Senate last June 18, a report came out that Sison outclassed Luistro, the lead prosecutor and House Committee on Justice chairperson.
Luistro described this as "fake news", while Ridon said nothing of that sort happened.
"Wala pong nangyaring pag-outshine, pag-outgun, at pag-kain ng buhay kay Congresswoman Luistro. Parang hindi ho mangyayari yun," Ridon said in an earlier interview.
(There was no outshining, outgunning, or "eating alive" of Congresswoman Luistro. That kind of thing did not happen.)
The prosecution panel expects more such claims to come out in the coming days leading to the start of the actual impeachment trial on July 6.