The House prosecution's October 1 session of the Sara Duterte impeachment trial lost its most publicized witness and its most important evidence before lunch, leaving two land registrars to carry the day.
According to GMA News and Philstar.com (Cristina Chi), prosecutors dropped former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV from their witness list and the Senate impeachment court postponed the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) presentation to Monday, October 5. That left two government registrars on the stand on Day 32.
What happened
GMA News reported that Trillanes asked the prosecution to remove him as a witness, saying he would hold a press conference instead. Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said the move showed "wisdom in caution" given the strength of their evidence. Philstar reported that prosecutors, led by Rep. Jinky Luistro, sought "the kind indulgence of the honorable impeachment court for the belated final position on this particular concern." Philstar noted it remains unclear why prosecutors ultimately dropped a witness they had earlier emphasized.
The AMLC testimony was pushed back, per GMA, after defense lawyers objected that they had received only summaries of the bank records that morning. Philstar reported the AMLC material covers P6.77 billion in transactions under investigation and runs to some 23 to 24 boxes of documents. AMLC Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura was rescheduled to Monday.
In their place came Kathy Florence Baldonado, Davao City Register of Deeds IV, who testified on a P6-million property acquired by Duterte's husband, Manases Carpio, and Marco Pineda, Deputy Register of Deeds III in Samal, who testified on a property registered under Carpio. Philstar said both identified property documents. The trial's Article II charges involve unexplained wealth and failure to divest business interests.
The senator-judge's verdict
Sen. Raffy Tulfo told prosecutors, per GMA: "sometimes you screw up. You fielded witnesses that are not needed. It is a waste of time."
Philstar's live coverage added that Duterte's spokesperson, Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., dismissed Trillanes' claims about alleged funds from China as "exhausted lies since 2016." Panelo's characterization is the defense's, not a finding; Trillanes did not testify, so the allegation was not tested in the chamber.
Still unknown
Whether the property documents square with Duterte's disclosures was not established in the reports reviewed. Nor is it clear what the defense will do with the AMLC records once it has received more than summaries. No formal verdict date has been set, despite speculation about December 16, per Philstar.
Context
Pulpulitiko previously reported that prosecutors floated dropping a bribery count because of the Senate budget calendar. The October 1 session is part of the full-day hearings planned for October 1 to 15, after which the trial pauses for budget deliberations, per the Manila Times. Time is the one resource this trial is visibly short of, which makes unneeded witnesses expensive.
Sources
- GMA News, "LIVE UPDATES: Sara Duterte Impeachment Trial (October 1, 2026)": https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/1004365/live-updates-sara-duterte-impeachment-trial-october-1-2026/story/
- Philstar.com, "Sara Duterte trial recap, Oct. 1: Trillanes out, AMLC witness moved" (Cristina Chi): https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2026/10/01/2560269/sara-duterte-trial-recap-oct-1-trillanes-out-amlc-witness-moved
- Philstar.com, "LIVE Coverage: Sara Duterte's impeachment trial, Oct. 1": https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2026/10/01/2560221/live-coverage-sara-dutertes-impeachment-trial-oct-1
- The Manila Times via Newswav, "Impeachment verdict expected in December": https://newswav.com/article/impeachment-verdict-expected-in-december-A2609_74y5Cd