House impeachment trial spokesperson and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said Vice President Sara Duterte’s answer to the Articles of Impeachment failed to directly respond to the allegations against her and instead repeated procedural objections earlier raised by her camp.
Speaking at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum, Adiong said the House prosecution panel had expected Duterte’s legal team to present substantive responses and evidence to refute the charges pending before the Senate impeachment court.
“But what we didn’t expect is that the answers are still the same. It’s a non-answer to the articles of impeachment because they’ve been publicly questioning the process by which even the Supreme Court has already laid down guidelines,” Adiong said.
Adiong said the Supreme Court, in Duterte v. House of Representatives, recognized the House’s exclusive power to initiate impeachment proceedings while stressing that due process must be observed.
He said the House Committee on Justice conducted proceedings to determine whether the allegations in the impeachment complaints were supported by evidence sufficient to establish probable cause.
“What we’ve seen during the course of the confirmation hearings of the Justice Committee acting like a preliminary investigation is to set the tone whether these allegations contained in the complaints have backing, have material evidence to prove that indeed there is a probable cause. So klaro na po ’yun,” he said.
Adiong also said Duterte and her representatives were repeatedly invited to participate in the House proceedings but did not attend.
“But the defense, parati po nilang sinasabi, despite the fact that they’ve been invited several times during the entire confirmation hearings, hindi po sila sumulpot,” he said.
The Articles of Impeachment accuse Duterte of misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery of government officials, and threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
Adiong said Duterte’s latest filing appeared aimed at persuading the Senate impeachment court to dismiss the case outright rather than answer the allegations on their merits.
“So what they intend to actually achieve is for the impeachment court to dismiss the impeachment complaints, which I believe the Senate acting as impeachment court has no option to do that under the Constitution once they have taken jurisdiction and assumed jurisdiction over these complaints,” he said.
He said the Senate impeachment court should proceed to trial and decide whether to acquit or convict the Vice President.
“The Senate need not to do anything other than to reach a decision whether to acquit or to convict the respondent, in this case the Vice President,” Adiong said.
Adiong said the public deserves a direct answer from Duterte’s camp on the allegations raised in the impeachment case.
“The people deserves to get straight answer from the Vice President, straight answer from the defense as to countering these allegations,” he said.
Instead, he said the filing merely rehashed earlier arguments questioning the impeachment process.
“So kung if they are willing to address and answer this allegation in the proper forum, we were expecting that they would also supply new counter evidences para pasinungalingan yung mga allegations. Kaya wala po. Ang ginawa lang po nila is yung rehash na sinasabi din po nila, questioning the entire process,” he said.
Adiong also cited recent survey results showing growing public support for allowing the impeachment proceedings to continue.
“The people themselves, the public themselves, agree that the process has to go through and has to move forward. In this case, Senate should now proceed to the actual impeachment trial,” he said.
He expressed confidence that senators understand their constitutional duty as members of the impeachment court.
“I do firmly believe that our senators understand their constitutional duty because the House of Representatives has already performed our constitutional duty,” Adiong said.
“Hindi pu-pwedeng ang i-recognize mo lang ay ’yung constitutional duty ng Senado tapos iku-question mo ’yung process kung paano ito in the first place napunta sa Senado,” he added.
Adiong said the impeachment proceedings have become a test not only of the case against the Vice President, but also of the strength of the country’s constitutional institutions.
“The Constitution is now under, parang tine-test natin ito. Hindi lang ito trial ng Bise Presidente. Ito rin po ay test kung gaano katibay, katatag ang ating Constitution,” he said.