Lead defense counsel Sheila Sison on Monday hit back at the prosecution panel for calling the defense ‘delatory’ after her camp sought an hour-long break during Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Nearly eight hours into the trial, defense lawyer Mark Vinluan asked for an hour to prepare his next set of questions for the cross-examination of Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Secretariat Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura.
Private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia criticized the request as ‘delatory.’
Shortly after, Sison took the stand in defense of Vinluan.
‘When Atty. Vinluan asked for time to organize his notes so that he may intelligently examine this witness, and the prosecution insinuates that this is delatory, that’s not true, Your Honor,’ Sison said.
‘I don’t think there’s any doubt here that the prosecution took the entire day direct examining this witness. We have only examined this witness for an hour. We’re not asking for a long time,’ she added.
Sison also explained that the defense had only had the documents for a few days after they were resubmitted over the weekend.
‘We’re only asking for a fair and meaningful opportunity to examine on behalf of this respondent this witness. Because the prosecution took the entire day direct examining this witness. We cannot be rushed in cross-examining this witness,’ she added.
Divinagracia explained her remark, saying Vinluan had earlier made remarks about ‘calling it a day.’
She also criticized that the two camps were provided with the witness’ documents on the same day.
‘The time that they were given to review the documents is the exact same time that we were given… Just like the defense, the prosecution also received the summary from the AMLC on the same day. And yet, your honor, we took the pains of going over it over the weekend to prepare for today’s hearing,’ Divinagracia pointed out.