Carpio: VP risks waiving rights without response
Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment proceedings will continue even if her defense team failed to submit its response on time to the impeachment court, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said on Sunday.
The Senate, sitting as the impeachment court, has issued a writ of summons to Duterte to respond to the articles of impeachment on June 11, giving her 10 days to reply.
This means that a response from her camp should be submitted to the impeachment court on June 21, which fell on a weekend, giving her until Monday, June 23, to comply.
Neither the Senate nor Duterte and her defense team gave information on whether the Vice President was able to comply with the writ of summons that was delivered to her.
But if Duterte failed to respond to her summons, it would be deemed that she was waiving her right to answer, according to Carpio.
“But it will continue. It will not stop the proceedings,” Carpio said in an interview over dzBB radio.
Evidence
Even if she failed to file an answer to her summons, Duterte can still present her evidence during the trial proper.
“She is allowed to present evidence [during trial] but she lost her right to file an answer. She already waived [that right],” Carpio said.
He agreed with former Senate President Franklin Drilon’s views that Duterte may be declared in default if she fails to file her response to the summons and that she would not be able to present evidence before the impeachment court.
But Carpio also has slight reservations with Drilon’s points.
“That’s correct that she will be declared in default but [in the] way I look at it, it’s up to the next Senate [in the 20th Congress] whether to allow her to present evidence or not,” Carpio said.
“The trial will proceed, the prosecution will present its evidence, while you didn’t say anything. But the defense can still rebut the evidence presented by the prosecution,” he said.
In a regular court setting, a respondent who failed to respond to the court summons would be declared in default and would lose the privilege to present evidence, Carpio explained.
However, this does not prevent the defense from cross-examining the witnesses of the prosecution.
Carpio maintained that the trial will still proceed even if Duterte won’t file her response, which he described as “against her interests.”
“Optics-wise, at the point [of view] of the public, she did not have an answer,” he said. “All she can do is to question the evidence presented by the prosecution in court.”
“But I think that it is far-fetched. I believe she will still file an answer [to the impeachment court],” Carpio said.
The Inquirer tried to reach out to the Vice President’s defense lawyers but had no response at press time.
‘Potentially telegraphing’
Senator-elect Panfilo Lacson, for his part, on Sunday chided the Senate impeachment court spokesperson over the public comments he apparently made on the issues surrounding the pending trial of Duterte.
Lacson made the remarks after impeachment court spokesperson, lawyer Reginald Tongol, was quoted in reports as saying that the senator-judges will not yet be prohibited from making such public comments.
“Only the senator-judges, not the presiding officer—after agreeing among themselves, or at least a majority of them—can decide not to make public comments on issues pertaining to the impeachment case,” the incoming senator said in a post on X.
Lacson also voiced concerns over Tongol’s previous statement, in which he was quoted as saying that he would file a motion to dismiss, “if I were the vice president.”
He reprimanded Tongol for “potentially telegraphing” the moves of the defense with his statement, which House prosecution panel spokesperson and lawyer Antonio Bucoy had branded as “inappropriate.”
Tongol was quoted as saying in a news forum on Saturday that the presiding officer believes that at least for now, the discussion of the issues being presented before the court is “healthy.”
The impeachment spokesperson added that Rule 18 of the Senate Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials, in which the presiding officer and the members of the Senate shall “refrain from making any comments and disclosures in public pertaining to the merits of a pending impeachment trial,” will be used “sparingly.”
“Atty. Tongol, being the spokesman of the entire impeachment court, should not limit himself to the sentiment of the presiding officer,” Lacson said.
