House team gets offers of help for Sara’s trial
- Private prosecutors lending legal support to the House team at the Senate impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte would be similar to previous trial arrangements for Joseph Estrada and Renato Corona.
- These seasoned lawyers want a conviction, says a member of the House panel of prosecutors.
- The impeachment secretariat already held a preparatory meeting on Feb. 12, and that House leader gave the panel “words of encouragement that this is the road we are going into.”
Some private lawyers have sent feelers to the House prosecution team offering to lend legal support for the lawmakers in the upcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte in the Senate, one of the prosecutors said on Friday.
Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor, who is part of the 11-member panel of prosecutors from the lower chamber, however, did not name any of these lawyers offering to assist the panel.
“Other lawyers have been helping us, not just the public prosecutors from Congress. Actually, we’ve been swamped with offers (‘dinagsa’) from legal eagles from across the country who want to help and want the impeachment trial to proceed,” Defensor said.
These “seasoned lawyers want a conviction and this impeachment trial to be over and done with.’’
His update raised the possibility that the team may consider tapping the services of private prosecutors, similar to the previous impeachment trials of former President Joseph Estrada and the late former Chief Justice Renato Corona, should the rules that the Senate would adopt allow this.
Defensor said the House prosecutors and their support staff had been in the thick of preparations for the trial even as the Senate had yet to convene itself into an impeachment court.
Part of their preparations, he said, revolved around possible strategies and “game plans” once the trial is under way, possibly by late July after the State of the Nation Address by President Marcos when the 20th Congress convenes, as announced earlier by Senate President Francis Escudero.
No lead prosecutor yet
The impeachment complaint against Duterte, initially signed by 215 lawmakers, accuses her of culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes, including the alleged misuse of up to P612.5 million in confidential funds for her office and the Department of Education (DepEd) when she was secretary. Another 25 lawmakers endorsed the complaint after the articles of impeachment were transmitted to the Senate late afternoon of Feb. 5.
As to the structure of the prosecution team, Defensor said they had yet to decide on a lead prosecutor.
“But I think we have a good understanding of our strengths and our capabilities, which ones that we think will be best suited for us when we present the evidence,” he said.
It is also possible, Defensor said, for the prosecutors to handle multiple of the seven articles of impeachment filed against Duterte, which revolve around her assassination threat against President Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez; the anomalous use of confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President and the DepEd under her term; and her overall “destabilizing” conduct as vice president.
“We could even cross over [to] the other articles. If you look at it, some are interrelated, especially if the charge is betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution,” the Iloilo lawmaker said.
Defensor said the team was confident that they could secure a conviction. Duterte must be convicted in at least one article of impeachment through a vote of two-thirds of the members of the Senate, or 16 votes.
Defensor stressed, however, that he preferred that Duterte attend and testify during the impeachment trial herself, especially after the Vice President expressed her intention to skip, whenever possible. Under the 1987 Constitution, it is not necessary for the impeached official to be present during the proceedings.
Speaker’s message
Defensor’s statements follow Deputy Majority Leader and La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega’s disclosure that the impeachment secretariat already held a preparatory meeting on Feb. 12.
Romualdez had a brief appearance during the meeting, Ortega said, noting that the House leader gave the panel “words of encouragement that this is the road we are going into.”
Asked about what the Speaker told them, Ortega said: “We have to stay true to what we [have] voted upon.”
Ortega added that the team would continue to prepare for the impeachment trial to make sure that their strategies and evidence are in place once the Senate convenes as an impeachment court.
The La Union lawmaker also stressed that they were readying for all possible scenarios, including a fast-tracked trial or proceedings set for June once the Senate resumes sessions.
“Reasonable, in a way, but we’re still preparing. There is nothing wrong if we prepare for any scenario that the trial may be fast-tracked or it starts in June. We don’t have any control in this kind of situation so we might as well be ready,” he said.
Election issue
In separate statements on Thursday, Assistant Majority Leaders Amparo Maria Zamora (Taguig City) and Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez (1-Rider) challenged all senatorial candidates, regardless of party affiliations, to make their position on Duterte’s impeachment known to voters.
Zamora and Gutierrez, who are also members of the prosecution panel, said Duterte’s impeachment should be an election issue as it involved the candidates’ personal views on transparency, accountability and judicious use of public funds.
“Absolutely, this will be an election issue. We should be asking our senatorial candidates on how they want their elected officials to be penalized with regard to the impunity in the use of taxpayers’ money, or abuse in government coffers,” Zamora said.
Gutierrez said: “Our take here is that voters should no longer base their preferences on popularity or personality politics. At least now, we already have an issue on how we think our senatorial candidates will fare with regard to the Duterte impeachment complaint.”
