The House prosecution panel on Tuesday said the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte should be decided based on the allegations and evidence presented before the Senate impeachment court, not on unrelated controversies involving the House of Representatives.
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesperson for the House prosecution panel, made the statement after the defense questioned the House’s moral standing during the opening of the impeachment trial.
“What I’m trying to say is that we also have to compartmentalize the issue and not to use this as a general narrative to cast doubts on the integrity of the institution, the integrity of the process by which we have seen from the start of the confirmation hearings of the Justice Committee up to the time that we are now at the Senate discussing these matters, the Articles of Impeachment in an open court,” Adiong said in a television interview.
Adiong was responding to defense counsel Sheila Sison’s remarks during the trial’s opening, where she invoked the same standards of modesty and integrity against members of the House of Representatives while questioning the impeachment proceedings.
He maintained that the charges against Duterte were not based on speculation but on documentary evidence gathered by government agencies.
“But the Vice President is now facing charges, not based on some hearsay or rumors, but charges based on factual evidence, evidence that are not obtained arbitrarily or taken out of the winds of the air, but reports from legitimate agencies, copies of reports from agencies that would give you an idea how the utilization of confidential funds were utilized, how the acknowledgment receipts in the form of reporting to COA, how they were utilized,” Adiong said.
The Senate impeachment court formally opened Duterte’s trial on Monday. She faces charges involving the alleged misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery and corruption, and alleged threats against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.
Adiong said the prosecution’s case rests on official records and findings from government agencies, which will be presented before the Senate impeachment court for evaluation.
He stressed that the prosecution would keep its focus on the Articles of Impeachment and the evidence supporting each allegation rather than allow the proceedings to be sidetracked by issues unrelated to the case.
Asked about procedural issues, including the threshold for conviction and other rulings of the impeachment court, Adiong said the prosecution would defer to the Senate on those matters while concentrating on presenting its evidence.
“We are confident with the case that we will present before the impeachment court. We have overwhelming evidence to prove the allegations contained under the Articles of Impeachment,” he said.
He added that the prosecution’s objective is not only to convince the senator-judges but also to demonstrate to the public that the impeachment charges are supported by evidence.
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