BATANGAS Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro on Wednesday rebuked Vice President Sara Z. Duterte for addressing the impeachment controversy outside the House Committee on Justice instead of answering the issues under oath before the panel, saying truth cannot be found in press releases.
“Let me be clear: this committee will not take anything at face value—whether said inside this hall or outside of it. Hindi tayo basta maniniwala sa ingay. We will evaluate everything. Dahil ang katotohanan ay hindi matatagpuan sa mga press release. Ito ay nakasandal sa mga dokumento, at sa mga salaysay na sinumpaan,” Luistro said in her opening speech.
She sharpened that point by saying the committee was being met not with sworn testimony inside the hearing room, but with messaging elsewhere that avoids the central issue.
“Sa totoo lang, na-ghost na nga tayo, tila gina-gaslight pa tayo. Ang mas mahalagang tanong ay kung nasaan ang pera, ngunit ang sagot sa atin ay tungkol sa grado sa kolehiyo. And the worst part? This explanation is not being made here, but everywhere else. Ang gusto natin ay testimonya sa ilalim ng sumpa, pero ang ibinibigay sa atin ay press release, at content sa social media,” Luistro, a lawyer, stressed.
She then underscored that the committee would weigh only evidence properly presented before it and not narratives floated outside the proceedings.
“Again, let us be clear: Hindi tayo basta maniniwala. We will evaluate everything—Madriaga’s testimony, COA documents, NBI findings, PSA certifications. Lahat ng ito ay kailangang iharap dito, suriin dito, at timbangin dito. Pero dapat dito. Humarap ang kailangang humarap, manumpa at magpaliwanag. Dito sa Komiteng ito,” Luistro emphasized.
The House Justice chair said the problem was visible even before the questioning began because one detail in the room captured what she described as the Vice President’s continued refusal to face the process directly.
“But there was one thing we could not ignore, something that was right in front of us: the empty chair of the Vice President. Wala ho siya nitong nakaraan,” Luistro said.
“Habang nandito ang mga nagrereklamo, ang tanging humarap sa atin ay isang bakanteng upuan,” she added.
Luistro said that despite the Vice President’s absence, the committee continued receiving and evaluating evidence, and that the proceedings had already moved beyond isolated claims into a larger body of material on record.
She recalled that the previous hearing had brought in subpoenaed documents, the public testimony of Ramil Madriaga, records adopted from the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, handwriting findings from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) certifications and Commission on Audit (COA) developments involving the Vice President’s confidential funds.
For Luistro, what makes the committee’s work more urgent is that the issues raised by those records remain unanswered where they matter most, which is inside the hearing hall and under oath.
She said that after the last hearing, the public discussion drifted toward peripheral issues even as the heavier questions on confidential funds, documents, and transactions were left hanging.
That, she suggested, is precisely why the committee must insist on process and sworn explanation rather than allow the controversy to be diluted by side arguments outside the formal inquiry.
In the latter part of her speech, she returned to the image of the vacant chair and used it to frame the unresolved questions now confronting the vice president.
“As we see it now, the chair right before us remains empty—at tila sanay na ho tayo sa tanawing iyan. Ngunit kahit bakante ang upuang iyan—even if that chair remains empty, this room is full of the people’s questions. Napakaraming tanong,” Luistro said.
“Mga tanong na, sa kabila ng pag-iwas, hindi mawawala; sa kabila ng pananahimik, hindi maglalaho—Mga tanong na kailanman ay hindi kayang takasan ng bakanteng upuan. Not today. Not anymore,” Luistro added.
