Photo credit: House of Representatives of the Philippines

House prosecutors on Monday pushed back against claims circulating online that Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team had dominated the recent pre-trial proceedings in her impeachment case, calling the narrative misleading and unfounded.

Speaking to reporters, House lead prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro dismissed social media posts suggesting that the prosecution panel had been outmatched during the June 18 pre-trial conference before the Senate impeachment court.

“That is not true. I charge it to fake news,” Luistro said during a press conference.

The lawmaker urged the public to be more critical of information spreading on social media as the impeachment proceedings move closer to trial.

“The people should become very cautious now in watching from social media. We should be careful in deciphering what is correct and what is false,” she said.

Luistro emphasized that the prosecution panel remains focused on representing the interests of the Filipino people throughout the impeachment process.

“Of course, I am conscious that I am representing the interests of the sovereign Filipino people,” Luistro said.

“Hindi po ako papayag na lamunin ng buhay ang laban ng sambayanang Pilipino,” she added.

Benjamin Tolosa Jr., the prosecution panel’s legal spokesperson and incoming private prosecutor, also rejected claims that the defense team gained the upper hand during the proceedings.

“You know, it’s normal, of course, for parties to claim that they got the upper hand in any particular hearing. But to properly address that, let’s stick to the facts,” Tolosa said.

He explained that a pre-trial conference is largely procedural and does not involve substantive rulings that could determine a winner or loser.

“When you say ‘kinain ng kalaban,’ what does that mean? It means someone got an upper hand compared to the other,” he said.

“But that’s impossible. Why? Because the clerk of the impeachment court cannot even make any rulings. So that’s factually impossible,” he said.

Instead, Tolosa said the prosecution panel achieved its primary objective of ensuring that the proceedings moved forward efficiently.

“What I can say also factually is that we were able to secure or successfully achieve our goal,” he said.
“What is that? To ensure that the pre-trial would proceed in an expeditious manner.”

According to Tolosa, one of the issues raised by the defense at the start of the conference involved the required two-thirds voting threshold, which they argued should be resolved before the pre-trial could proceed.

“Right at the start of the pre-trial conference, there was an attempt on the defense to raise an issue regarding the two-thirds threshold, to pose this as something that must be resolved before pre-trial could commence,” he said.

“And that is something that was quickly shot down by Congresswoman Luistro,” he said.

Tolosa added that the prosecution panel was able to complete the marking of evidence for two articles of impeachment and continue work on the remaining charges.

“In fact, as you know, we were able to complete already the marking of evidence for two articles of impeachment,” he said.
The prosecution is currently organizing documentary evidence related to allegations involving the misuse of confidential funds and unexplained wealth.

House prosecutors have repeatedly said their focus is on completing all pre-trial requirements ahead of the scheduled start of the impeachment trial on July 6.