It's the Senate impeachment court that will ultimately decide whether or not the former Davao City court sheriff punched by Vice President Sara Duterte 15 years ago would testify in the latter's proceedings.

Thus, said prosecution panel spokesperson Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong on Saturday, June 27 amid reports that the ex-sheriff, Abe Andres, appealed to be excluded from what he described as “partisan political matters".

Earlier, the prosecution bared that it had listed Andres as one of its witnesses for the high-stakes trial.

Speaking at the Saturday News Forum at Dapo Restaurant in Quezon City, Adiong said the prosecution understands Andres’ reluctance to relive his encounter with Duterte.

“We understand the apprehension of Mr. Abe. That’s a raw emotion," he saod.

“I mean, at the very least, that’s an embarrassing, it’s an embarrassing event on a personal level na nakatanggap ng ganong klaseng treatment sa Vice President na ang kanya lang kasalanan ay ginawa niya ang pag-uutos ng korte sa kanya, ” he said.

(I mean at the very least, that’s an embarrassing, it’s an embarrassing event on a personal level to have received that kind of treatment from the Vice President, when his only fault was carrying out the court’s order on him.)

Then-Davao City Mayor Duterte punched Andres during a demolition operation involving informal settlers in 2011 while serving a court order. He is now a human resource management officer at the Supreme Court (SC).

“Ang pagkakaalam po natin, once the court issues subpoena or invitation, mukhang iyong ating choice whether to appear or not would not no longer be, you know, will no longer be relevant, especially if it’s a subpoena coming from the court,” Adiong noted.

(From what we understand, once the court issues a subpoena or invitation, it seems our choice whether to appear or not will no longer be relevant, especially if it’s a subpoena coming from the court.)

Specifically, the prosecution panel is tapping Andres as a potential witness for Article IV of the impeachment complaint.

House prosecutor Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua earlier said Andres was not being presented to relitigate the 2011 incident itself but to help establish Duterte’s alleged violent behavior.

Article IV refers to the death threat issued by Duterte to President Marcos and other members of the First Family back in November 2024.

Meanwhile, Adiong has also rejected Andres' characterization of the impeachment proceedings as partisan politics, saying the Senate is performing a constitutional duty.

“What I’m trying to say is that the court is actually a non-partisan, non-partisan venue to discuss accountability mechanism of the Constitution. The Constitution speaks in a manner that does not actually see these charges associated with political partisanship or preferences,” he said.

“Kaya nga sinasabi po natin is that the court has the discretion to issue invitation and subpoena. And kung na-issue naman po ang korte ng subpoena doon sa mga potential witnesses, sabi ko nga po, personal choice is already immaterial. Kasi the court is exercising their constitutional duty to try and decide the case,” he explained.

(The court has the discretion to issue invitations and subpoenas. And if the court issues a subpoena to potential witnesses, as I said, personal choice is already immaterial, because the court is exercising its constitutional duty to try and decide the case..)

The Senate impeachment court is scheduled to begin trial on July 6 following the completion of the pre-trial proceedings last June 25.