Romer Butuyan 
HINILING ng House prosecutors sa Senate impeachment court na atasan ang defense team ni Vice President Sara Duterte na magbigay ng mas malinaw na detalye hinggil sa kung saan at ano ang kahalagahan ng mga testigo at ebidensyang ipiprisinta sa nalalapit na paglilitis.
Ayon kay lead prosecutor Atty. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro, mahalagang maaga pa lamang ay mabatid ng husto ang kinakailangang impormasyon tungkol sa presentasyon ng mga ebidensya at testigo ng magkabilang panig para sa maayos at tuloy-tuloy na pagdinig.
Sa pleading na inihain ng prosecution panel, pinuna ang santambak na testigo at ebidensyang nais ng panig ng nasasakdal. Kapansin-pansin naman aniya na pare-pareho ang mga katagang ginamit para ipabatid kung para saan at gagamitin ang mga sinasabing ebidensya at testigo.
Partikular na napansin ang paggamit ng depensa ng mga salitang “to disprove the allegations in the Articles of Impeachment,” “to prove allegations contained in Duterte’s Answer,” “to identify documents,” at ” to establish related matters” sa bawat saksi at ebidensyang nakapaloob sa pre-trial brief ng depensa.
“The issue is not the number of witnesses or exhibits being presented. The issue is whether the court is given enough information to understand what each witness is expected to prove and why each document is relevant,” paglilinaw ni Luistro.
Dagdag ng prosekusyon, ang kahilingan nila ay para na rin tulungan ang Impeachment Court na maitakda ng maayos ang bawat isyu bago ang pagdinig, maiwasan ang duplication of evidence, at magkaroon ng mabuting pamamahala ng proceedings.
“The request is fundamentally about clarity. If a witness is important to the defense, the court should know what specific issue that witness will address. If a document is relevant, the court should know what fact it is intended to prove.”
Giit naman ni House trial spokesperson at Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, dapat ding ipaliwanag ng kampo ng respondent ang planong paggamit sa mga testigo ng tagausig.
“What we’ve noticed and what we observe is that it’s more of a general denial. We don’t exactly know what would be the purpose of the witnesses that we have submitted to the Court and so far as defense adopting them as also part of their witnesses,” sambit ni Alonto Adiong.
“It appears now na sila ngayon nag-fishing expedition because we want the witnesses to appear before the court na initially talagang witnesses natin and then we don’t exactly know and the court does not exactly know what would be the purpose by which they are to be treated as hostile witness,” dugtong ng Mindanaoan solon.
Ayon naman kay Kabataan Partylist Rep. Renee Co, isa rin sa tagapagsalita ng prosecution panel, kapuna-puna ang “very general wording” na nakasaad sa pre-trial brief ng defense team hinggil sa kung para saan na isyu ang inilista nitong mga witness.
“Ang gusto natin protektahan dito ‘yung oras ng impeachment court. We don’t want further delay and we want to honor the process and the practices of the court kung paano nito sa puno’t dulo matitimbang ‘yung relevancy ng mga testimonies of our witnesses and even the gravity of the evidence that will be presented,” punto ni Co.
