Lead Public Prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro stated in the Senate impeachment court on Thursday, October 2, 2026, that the prosecution will no longer present former Senator Sonny Trillanes as a witness.

“The prosecution has finally decided not to present former Senator Sonny Trillanes,” she said

On September 28, the prosecution mentioned that the former Senator will be included in the list of witnesses for Article 2 or unexplained wealth in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Rep. Luistro didn’t explain the sudden decision to drop Trillanes from the list of witnesses.

However, Trillanes stated in his social media post that he requested Rep. Luistro to remove him from the list of witnesses.

“I requested the House prosecution under Chair Jinky Luistro to formally withdraw my name as a witness for the prosecution,” he said

Trillanes believes that removing him from the list of witnesses will be a relief for the prosecution.

“This way, the prosecution panel would be relieved from the pressure it is going through. Having said that, magco-conduct ako ng press con bukas para ipresenta lahat ng ilalabas ko dapat sa impeachment trial,” he added

Hence, Senate Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero directed Luistro to prepare more witnesses to prevent an early adjournment of the trial.

“I'd rather have more witnesses in line than lacking witnesses and having to adjourn early,” he said

However, Luistro admitted that they have no other witness on Friday.

“We lament, Your Honor, that we have no other witness to be presented tomorrow. Thus, we will be constrained to move for the deferment of presentation should the AMLC Executive Director conclude early his presentation on Friday,” she said

Meanwhile, Luistro stated in the Senate impeachment court that they will be presenting a witness from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on October 5, and representatives from banks and insurance companies on October 6.

“To continue, Your Honor, for Monday, October 5, we will be presenting the BIR. And for Tuesday, October 6, we will be presenting the representatives of banks and insurance companies,” she said