MANILA — The House prosecution panel in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is seeking an additional two days and more manpower from the Senate impeachment court to complete the marking of documentary evidence related to the case.

In a report, it said that House lead prosecutors Gerville Luistro of Batangas and Joel Chua of Manila said the request aims to speed up the handling of voluminous records tied to the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education during Duterte’s tenure as education secretary.

“They are voluminous,” Luistro said in a press conference, adding that the prosecution is considering asking the Senate impeachment court to extend the pre-trial conference until Saturday, June 27, and deploy four additional teams to finish the marking of evidence.

Luistro also said the defense has opted to conduct a separate marking of evidence on confidential funds, even though the same documents are being presented by the prosecution.

She noted that if both sides had agreed to treat the documents as common evidence, the process could have been completed more quickly.

“Had the defense agreed to mark the same set of evidence as common evidence, it would have cut the time needed to mark them all ‘in half,’” Luistro said.

However, she stressed that the defense has the right to decide its own approach in presenting its case.

“That’s their prerogative,” Luistro added.