The private prosecutors who volunteered to assist the House prosecution panel in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte said they are prepared to face disinformation, personal attacks, and political backlash as the proceedings move forward.
During the presentation of the first batch of private prosecutors, veteran litigator Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan said the team expects the coming months to be difficult, especially with misinformation and attempts to discredit those involved in the impeachment process.
“It will be difficult. The coming days will be difficult,” Kapunan said at a press conference. “You in (the) media know that there is a lot of fake news, that there is a lot of AIs going on, that there is a lot of falsehood going on.”
Kapunan said the team is aware that some groups may try to distort the facts surrounding the case, particularly those allied with the Vice President. Still, she said their focus remains on truth, accountability, and the constitutional process.
“There will be those who will distort the truth, especially those who have pledged alliance to the vice president,” she said.
Kapunan appealed to the media to help the public understand the role of the private prosecutors, saying they took on the responsibility of assisting in the effort to bring out the truth and hold a public official accountable.
“We call on the media to share with the public (the) responsibility that we as private prosecutors have assumed to help bring out the truth, to help make accountable a public official that deserves to be accountable,” she said.
Kapunan, who leads the 10-member private prosecution team, said criticism and hostility will not stop them from helping House prosecutors prepare witnesses, evidence, legal submissions, and pleadings for the proceedings.
“It does not matter if we are hated personally,” she said. “What matters here is we are useful, that we will be useful in supporting or aiding our public prosecutors in presenting a strong, fair and evidence-based case.”
“So the direct answer to your questions is: Bring it on,” she added.
SALiGAL Law managing partner Atty. Amando Virgil Ligutan also said the team expects to become a target of attacks, but stressed that these are insignificant compared with the importance of participating in a constitutional accountability process.
“The hate that we will encounter and/or experience, that is expected. But it is nothing compared to the honor that this obligation that we are fulfilling, the honor that it brings,” Ligutan said.
He said online ridicule, fake news, memes, and personal attacks would not outweigh the duty to help ensure accountability, regardless of the position held by the official involved.
“Wala po ‘yan, ‘yung magiging pambabastos, ‘yung fake news, ‘yung mga memes that will be creating attacking us. It’s nothing compared to the honor of making sure that those that must be held accountable should be held accountable no matter the case that you are the vice president of the Republic of the Philippines,” Ligutan said.
PECABAR Law managing partner Atty. Marforth Fua, meanwhile, said the private prosecutors view their role as professional legal work, not as a personal or political undertaking.
“To us, this is just like any other legal work that we have handled, and we are handling,” Fua said. “This is nothing personal. We’re given a job, we’re given an objective, so we’ll just fulfill our objective in this case like any other case we have handled.”
The first batch of private prosecutors is composed of lawyers from Kapunan & Castillo Law Offices, SALiGAL Law, and PECABAR Law. They are expected to formally enter their appearance before the Senate impeachment court on June 15 as the case moves toward the pre-trial phase.