HOUSE Committee on Justice Chair Atty. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro of Batangas on Tuesday said the response submitted by Vice President Sara Z. Duterte to the impeachment complaints against her “doesn’t seem like an answer” and instead appears to be a prohibited pleading under House rules.
Luistro said her reading of the vice president’s filing raised serious procedural concerns.
“Apparently for me, it doesn’t seem like an answer. While I was reading the answer, it looked like a motion to dismiss,” Luistro said in a radio interview.
Luistro pointed out that such a pleading is not allowed in impeachment proceedings.
“Luistro added that the rules of impeachment of the House of Representatives clearly state that a motion to dismiss is a prohibited pleading in impeachment proceedings.”
Luistro said the submission failed to directly address the accusations laid out in the complaints.
“Based on the allegations contained in the answer, the response is not relevant to the grounds and offenses alleged in the impeachment complaint.” In effect, parang hindi sumagot and instead they are questioning the proceeding before the Justice Committee in support of their intention to dismiss the impeachment complaint,” Luistro said.
Luistro also said the committee could treat the vice president’s filing as a general denial, noting that the lack of a direct response may leave the allegations standing.
“Ngayon considering that the answer is not responsive to the complaint, it appears like unrebutted ang mga allegations ng complainant,” she said.
“Kumbaga since hindi sinagot directly, it is as if tinanggap ang allegations na ito and we will be perceiving this as general denial ng mga allegations doon sa complaint,” Luistro said.
She maintained that the House panel had already established the sufficiency of the complaints during earlier deliberations, stressing that the respondent was provided the opportunity to answer the charges.
“We respect the opinion of the camp of the Vice President but of course we’ve been very cautious in the compliance to our rules,” Luistro said.
