VP Sara camp wants dismissal because it has no counterevidence – solon

By Jose Cielito Reganit, Philippine News Agency

Vice President Sara Duterte (Inday Sara Duterte/facebook)

MANILA – The camp of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte is seeking outright dismissal of the impeachment case because it has no counterevidence to answer the allegations in the Articles of Impeachment, House trial spokesperson and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said Wednesday.

In a televised interview, Alonto Adiong said the Vice President’s answer was lengthy but ultimately focused on stopping the case instead of meeting the charges at trial.

“To be honest with you, it’s quite voluminous ‘yung mismo sagot nila. But may gumawa naman din sila ng executive summary ng kanilang mga kasagutan (their answer is quite voluminous. But they did make an executive summary of their responses),” Alonto Adiong said.

He noted the defense’s core request is for the impeachment court to dispose of the case before the trial can test the evidence.

“Kumbaga kung i-summarize mo, ang gusto lang talaga nila is ma-dismiss ‘yung kaso. Wala sa Constitution na mayroong choice ang Senado na i-dismiss ang kaso (If you summarize it, what they really wanted is to dismiss the case. There is nothing in the Constitution that says the Senate has a choice to dismiss the case),” Adiong said.

He said the Constitution gives the Senate impeachment court the role of trying and deciding on the case, not dismissing it outright before the presentation of evidence.

“Ang choice lang talaga doon (The only choice) is to have a full trial and then reach judgment whether to acquit or to convict,” Adiong said.

The prosecution panel has also argued that the procedural and constitutional objections raised by the defense are not new and have been repeatedly aired since the House proceedings.

“It already came out last year, and rehashed lang talaga siya (it’s only a rehashed version),” he said.

He said the decision to seek dismissal reveals weakness in the defense’s ability to confront the substance of the impeachment complaint.

“Sa palagay ko (In my on view), the reason why they wanted to dismiss the case, appealing or praying for the court to dismiss the case right away or outright dismissal, it’s because they don’t have anything to offer as a counterevidence to refute the allegations contained in the Articles of Impeachment,” he said.

The House prosecution panel earlier filed a manifestation instead of a reply, taking the position that Duterte’s answer, which, according to Alonto Adiong, basically questioned the impeachment process, did not require a point-by-point response from prosecutors.

The impeachment court is expected to proceed to pretrial on June 18 before the trial proper begins in July. 

This article is republished from PNA.