Hindi umano gagalaw ang bigat ng impeachment case laban kay Vice President Sara Duterte kahit magkaroon pa ng panibagong leadership shakeup sa Senado.
Ito ang sinabi ni House trial spokesperson at Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong nitong Sabado, habang umiingay ang usapan sa posibleng pag-upo ni Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian bilang Senate President kapalit ng kasalukuyang liderato.
Ayon kay Alonto Adiong, hindi papasok ang House prosecution panel sa internal dynamics ng Senado bilang paggalang sa co-equal branch of government.
“As far as we maintain institutional respect to our co-equal branch, that is an internal dynamics within the Senate,” ani Alonto Adiong sa Saturday News Forum sa Dapo Restaurant sa Quezon City.
“And I think in terms of the decision, collective decision, whether the senators will be changing the leadership, that is entirely up to the decision of the individual senators,” dagdag niya.
Nag-convene na ang Senado bilang impeachment court at nakapag-isyu na ng writs of summons sa prosecution at defense panels.
Inaasahang matatanggap ng Senado ang formal response ng kampo ni Duterte pagsapit ng June 1. Pagkatapos nito, maghahain ng reply ang House prosecution team bago magsimula ang pre-trial proceedings.
Giit ni Alonto Adiong, kahit sino pa ang mamuno sa Senado o maupo sa key positions, hindi nito babaguhin ang ebidensya at merits ng kaso ng prosecution.
“So ang pinanindigan namin, whoever becomes the Senate President or whatever is the composition of the Senate in terms of key positions in the Senate, will not affect the soundness and the volume of evidence that the House prosecution team will be presenting to the impeachment court,” ani Alonto Adiong.
Sinabi niyang mananatiling nakabatay ang presentasyon ng prosecution sa mga dokumento, testimonya, at records na nakuha sa House proceedings.
“It would still be consistent with the testimonies and the documents that we have gathered,” sabi niya.
Ayon kay Alonto Adiong, mas lilinaw sa pre-trial kung paano ilalatag ng magkabilang panig ang kanilang ebidensya at testigo sa Senate impeachment court.
“In the pre-trial, I believe, the pre-trial setting down the ground rules for the impeachment court to proceed,” ani Alonto Adiong.
“Part of that is actually identification of the potential witnesses and markings of evidences,” dagdag niya. /Bistado