MANILA, Philippines – Everything went well during the first day of the pre-trial conference for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment proceedings on Thursday, June 18, according to the prosecution and defense teams.

“First of all, we’d like to say that we are glad by the orderly and smooth conduct of today’s pre-trial conference, which demonstrates that the impeachment process is proceeding in accordance with the rules and on the proper constitutional track,” House prosecution spokesperson and Lanao del Sur Representative Zia Alonto Adiong said during a press briefing at the House of Representatives on Thursday.

“We were okay, as far as the defense is concerned. We’re okay with what happened,” said the defense team’s spokesperson, Michael Poa.

Pre-trial conference is the part of the impeachment proceedings where the parties — the House prosecution team and Duterte’s defense lawyers — discuss and mark evidence, list possible witnesses, set the trial dates, stipulate facts, and propose the sequence of the presentation of evidence.

Its purpose is to ensure a smooth trial proper.

Last May, Duterte became the first Filipino public official to have been impeached twice by the House of Representatives. As the impeachment court, the Senate now has the articles of impeachment, which are the subject of the ongoing pre-trial conference.

There are four articles of impeachment approved by the House against Duterte: questions on confidential funds usage (first); unexplained wealth (second); bribery of Department of Education officials (third); and grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family (fourth).

Poa said the parties finished the marking of evidence for the third and fourth articles of impeachment. They agreed to adjourn the session at 5 pm on Thursday and resume the pre-trial at 9 am on Monday, June 22.

Marking of evidence is an important process in proceedings because this is where the parties properly label and tag evidence so they can easily refer to it during the trial.

As with the stipulation of facts, the parties are due to make submissions by June 22. Stipulation of facts is the agreement between the parties about certain facts for smoother discussions during the trial.

“The impeachment court directed both parties to submit their respective comments on the stipulation process by June 22, after which the matter will be submitted for resolution on June 25,” said Adiong.

The parties also clarified that there was no tension during the pre-trial’s first day, contrary to some reports. Rather, it was more of a disagreement between the parties.

“Well, I think that’s usual in pre-trial conferences. Of course, this is the first time that the defense and prosecution will face each other. I think it’s normal to have such disagreements. That’s why you have the pre-trial conference to simplify what can be discussed, what will be admitted, what will be contested by each panel so that the impeachment court will decide what will be part of the trial court,” Adiong explained.

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“It’s normal to have arguments on both sides, but we can’t call that tension. It’s normal in every pre-trial, not just in impeachment, but also in regular cases,” Poa said in a mix of Filipino and English. – Rappler.com