THE House prosecution is asking for fair and equal treatment when it comes to enforcing its sub judice rule to include every party in the impeachment trial, including the respondent Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
Counsel for the prosecution, Atty. Benjamin Tolosa Jr., who, along with House prosecutor and Bicol Saro Partylist Rep.Terry Ridon, was issued a show cause order by the Senate Impeachment Court in relation to the sub judice rule, said he has already submitted his response and believes he did nothing wrong.
Tolosa said the statements he made during the press briefings held after the trial were merely a recounting of the testimonies provided by the witnesses.
“We’re hoping kapag nakita iyong answer natin, explanation natin, at tiningnan iyong buong konteksto ng mga statements natin, makikita sana na wala namang naging paglabag at lahat ng mga statements natin were all made in a good faith,” Tolosa said.
According to Tolosa, what is more glaring to the prosecution when it comes to violations of the sub judice rule are the public pronouncements of the vice president, which he said are direct attacks against the impeachment court and the senator judges.
“Narinig naman natin noon ang sinabi mismo ng bise presidente, sabi niya the impeachment proceedings ay marred by bending the law, ibig sabihin binabaluktot ang batas,” Tolosa said, referring to an earlier statement made by Duterte.
He recalled the presiding officer of the impeachment court, Senator Francis Escudero, giving all parties a clean slate, thereby wiping away all possible infractions of the sub judice rule.
However, shortly after that ruling by Escudero, Tolosa noted that Duterte came out with an official statement that was clearly in the context of the impeachment trial and other legal cases she is facing, saying that “hawak ni Marcos ang mga senador, ang mga huwes, at mga piskal.”
“Sa amin napakaliwanag niyan that that’s an attack against the integrity of the impeachment court, to say that the president is controlling the senators, of course, these are the same senator judges,” Tolosa said.
“So, iyan ho ang para sa amin na mas delikado dahil ito nga, this could give the impression doon sa mga tao na naniniwala sa kanya at will take those statements as fact, na iisipin nila kung ano man ang magiging desisyon ng mga senator-judges dito, lalo na kung hindi paborable sa bise presidente, iisipin nila hindi iyan dahil sa ebidensya na linatag ng mga parties, ito lamang ay dahil nga sa sinasabi niyang na kokontrolado ng presidente ang mga senador,” he added.
Tolosa said the statements made by the vice president were very unfair and were in fact ”an attack against the integrity of the impeachment court that must not be tolerated.”
He said the prosecution is not asking for special treatment from the court but only for the equal application of the rules.
“Ang hinihingi lang namin sa prosekusyon, mayroon lang isang rule dito; there is one rule governing the proceedings, and this rule should be applied evenly to all persons covered by it,” Tolosa said.
“Dahil alam naman natin kapag ang mga rules, if these are applied without fairness, na-weaken yung mga tribunals. Pero kapag naman yung mga makikita na rules are applied evenly, na-strengthen naman yung tribunal,” he added.
metrosundaily
