One of the members of the House prosecution panel on Wednesday laughed off Vice President Sara Duterte’s claim of being persecuted, reminding that her impeachment trial has long been delayed to say the least.
Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said Duterte should differentiate the word “persecution” from “prosecution” in relation to her impeachment case. The vice president is hounded by alleged misuse of confidential funds, among other serious charges.
“Kung walang ebidensya (if there is no evidence), that is political persecution. Pero kung may ebidensya (But if there’s evidence), that is a legitimate prosecution,” Luistro told reporters.
As far as the House prosecution panel is concerned, Luistro—a lawyer like Duterte—said their team holds strong evidence against the vice president.
“As far as we are concerned, we have ample and strong evidence supporting the seven articles of impeachment,” said Luistro.
The lawmaker added that facing the impeachment court is the best legal venue for Duterte to answer the allegations levelled against her. Luistro emphasized that the long-delayed trial has to push through.
“Regardless of the result of the survey, we have a constitutional duty that we really have to face. There is nothing which is more supreme than the Philippine Constitution, sapagkat ito po ang mandato ng taumbayan (because this is the people’s mandate),” she said.
Luistro was referring to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which showed that 42 percent of Filipinos disagreed with the impeachment case against her. Meanwhile, 32 percent of the respondents agreed with the impeachment proceedings.
“So, regardless of the result of the survey, whether there’s a high or low percentage of impeachment supporters, this is mandatory for us to conduct a trial,” Luistro underscored.
