The pre-trial conference for the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte is set to continue on Wednesday, with the marking of evidence related to the Articles of Impeachment still ongoing.

Senate Secretary and Clerk of Court Atty. Renato Bantug Jr. said many documents have yet to be marked, but the court is working to finish the process as soon as possible to stay on schedule.

Despite the tight timeline, Bantug Jr. maintained that July 6 remains the target date for the start of the impeachment trial proper.

"July 6 is still the date of the start of the trial proper of the impeachment case. While it may be difficult on the part of the court, on the part of the staff, at this point July 6 as the start of the trial proper is not yet an impossibility — tight, but not impossible," he said.

Bantug Jr. said the pre-trial conference must be completed this week so the court can issue a pre-trial order. Once released, each party will have three days to submit their comments.

"Supposing that we end tomorrow, what may happen is that we may not be able to release the pre-trial order by tomorrow. But as it is happening now, we obviously cannot even issue a pre-trial order until all documents are marked, until the pre-trial is concluded. Since the pre-trial order may come in by next week, how will that affect the July 6 start of the trial? If you are to base it on a simple count of calendar days, it's still possible," he explained.

The clerk of court acknowledged, however, that finishing the pre-marking of evidence on the same day was not feasible.

"That's almost certain that we cannot end the marking today. We'll try our best to have it done by tomorrow. But the pace today compared to the previous days was a bit faster because we added one more team for the marking," Bantug Jr. said.

On a separate matter, Bantug Jr. deferred to the Senate Impeachment Court the decision on a manifestation filed by the House prosecution panel requesting the opening of a sealed box containing the tax records of Vice President Duterte and her husband, Atty. Mans Carpio.

He emphasized that only the Impeachment Court has the authority to rule on whether the box may be opened and its contents marked during the pre-trial conference.

"The present status is that we have a box — a box that is sealed, its contents unknown. In today's manifestation, the prosecution is asking that we open it so that we can pre-mark its contents. The pre-trial conference cannot decide on that. As clerk of court, I cannot decide on that. It is a matter that only the impeachment court can decide on," he said.

Bantug Jr. clarified that even if the Impeachment Court does not act on it immediately, the box can still be opened and marked once the trial proper begins.

The clerk of court said he must first inform the senator-judges of the prosecution panel's manifestation before any decision can be made.

Meanwhile, the defense team of Vice President Duterte said it is prepared to formally respond to the prosecution's manifestations, including the request to open the sealed BIR box.

Defense team spokesperson Atty. Michael T. Poa said: "Natanggap lang namin kaninang umaga. Hindi pa namin nababasa ng talagang malaliman dahil as you know we were in the marking. But ang sabi ko lang is we will respond. We will formally respond to the manifestation."

(We only received it this morning. We have not yet read it thoroughly because as you know we were in the marking. But what I can say is we will respond. We will formally respond to the manifestation.)