Vice President Sara Z. Duterte no longer needs to insist that she will not resign because the evidence presented against her should now be weighed by the Senate impeachment court toward a verdict, an impeachment endorser maintained.
Manila Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr., one of the endorsers of the Articles of Impeachment, pointed this out as he issued the challenge after House prosecutors completed the presentation of their evidence before the senator-judges.
“She even said, she will not resign! There’s no need because she will be convicted,” Abante, chairman of the House Committee on Human Rights, said.
The House prosecution rested its case after presenting financial, tax, bank, corporate, and other records under the impeachment articles, with the defense now expected to present its evidence and explanations before the court.
Abante maintained that the case has reached the point where the senator-judges must evaluate the evidence already placed on record rather than focus on competing public narratives outside the courtroom.
“Appreciation of evidence is the only way to convict the vice president… voluminous evidence have been exposed,” Abante stressed.
The prosecution’s final phase included the testimony of financial forensic analyst Alexander Cabrera, who was presented to consolidate the different financial records introduced during the trial and explain the prosecution’s theory on Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth and undeclared assets.
Abante argued that Duterte’s lawyers can no longer erase the evidence already admitted into the proceedings and can only attempt to explain or rebut it during the defense presentation.
“The defense lawyers can’t do anything about it anymore except the vice president going to the media explaining her usual, ‘I am innocent’ narrative, but the Filipino people are not stupid, they realize the truthfulness of the all the evidence against her,” Abante also said.
Duterte’s defense has disputed the prosecution’s interpretation of the evidence and will have the opportunity to challenge the records, witnesses, and conclusions presented against her when it formally takes its turn before the impeachment court.
Abante, a longtime Baptist pastor, also invoked Scripture in challenging Duterte as the case moves into its next stage.
“Madame Vice- President do what you can do now! The Bible said, your latter end is worse than your beginning,” Abante added.
The senator-judges will ultimately determine whether the prosecution has established sufficient constitutional grounds to convict Duterte after hearing the defense and completing their appreciation of the evidence.