The panel of prosecutors said Thursday that they intend to trim down the articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in the hope of finishing the presentation of all the complaints before the Lenten break.

Senator-judge Aquilino Martin "Koko" Pimentel said that the streamlining of the impeachment articles is allowed.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte explained that the advise to the prosecution was to try and manifest by next week its new plan and communicate this to the impeachment court.

Belmonte added that the prosecution team seems to be faced with too many technicalities in evidence gathering, which has been the major cause of delays in the impeachment proceedings.

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales III said that is is possible the prosecution might retain only Articles 2, 3 and 7, adding that there is a high level of confidence in obtaining a conviction even on Article 2 alone because he believes the prosecution has presented a sufficient body of evidence.

He added that the panel will no longer wait for the Supreme Court to lift its temporary restraining order on the disclosure of details of Corona’s dollar deposits.

Belmonte and Gonzales said they are both convinced that Corona should be convicted.

ACL / Reportage from Stephanie Ongkiko