VICE President Sara Z. Duterte’s camp has shown it has no plan to answer the impeachment allegations against her, relying instead on procedural and constitutional objections in its answer before the Senate impeachment court, House prosecution panel trial spokesperson and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said Saturday.
Alonto Adiong made the statement after Duterte’s 51-page answer to the Articles of Impeachment was made public, with her defense team arguing that the proceedings are void because they were allegedly attended by bad faith and manifest partiality.
“It only confirms our initial observation that the defense could not provide particular counter-evidence or argument to challenge, even to contest the allegations contained under the Articles of Impeachment,” Alonto Adiong said during the Saturday News Forum at Dapo Restaurant in Quezon City.
“That from the very start, they’ve been harping about procedural objections, constitutional objections, which all of us know is already way, way past over that stage,” he added.
Alonto Adiong said the prosecution expected the defense to submit specific evidence and counter-evidence challenging the impeachment allegations, but its answer did not do so.
“We expect that in the pre-trial brief, they can actually provide particular, specific evidence, counter-evidence, to at least challenge ’yung mga accusations,” he said.
“But then again, the summation of the case that they would like to bring forth, as indicated by that statement, only validates our earlier observation na kulang talaga ’yung kanilang pwedeng mai-offer sa korte,” he said.
He also said the filing contradicted the defense’s earlier public statements that it was ready to answer the charges before the impeachment court.
“This is also in complete opposite to what we’ve heard during the press conference that they conducted previously, that they are ready to face and answer these allegations at the proper venue,” Alonto Adiong said.
“But unfortunately, the answer that they have provided to the court is just the same rehash claim that everything is void because from the very beginning, they questioned the constitutionality and the process by which the impeachment was initiated and brought to the Senate,” Alonto Adiong stressed.
The Articles of Impeachment accuse Duterte of misusing hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential funds, amassing unexplained wealth, bribing Department of Education personnel, and making grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.
The Senate impeachment court has completed pre-trial proceedings and is scheduled to formally start the impeachment trial on July 6.
Both the prosecution and the defense have already submitted their pre-trial briefs, witness lists and documentary evidence in preparation for the trial.
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