Congress FILE

Veteran lawyer Lorna Kapunan said joining the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte is her way of giving back after nearly five decades in the legal profession and helping uphold the principle of public accountability.

Speaking during a press conference on Thursday, the founder of Kapunan & Castillo Law Offices said taking part in the case is part of her long-standing commitment to ensuring that public officials are answerable to the people.

“I think in my 48 years as a lawyer, this probably is what we call payback time,” she said.

“This is where very serious legal issues are concerned because they constitute articles of impeachment against a very high official. And that is why I have committed my time and my law firm’s time to assisting the public prosecutors here in their very worthwhile cause which is the issue of public accountability,” she added.

Kapunan will head the first batch of private lawyers assisting the House prosecution panel. She leads a 10-member team composed of lawyers from Kapunan & Castillo Law Offices, PECABAR Law and Sapayan Lim Alvarez Ligutan (SALiGAL) Law, all of whom volunteered to serve on a pro bono basis.

Joining Kapunan are Sonya Margarita Benemerito-Castillo, Deanna Melissa S. Lorenzo-Singian, Lino Chris P. Kapunan and Bettina N. Zamora from Kapunan & Castillo Law Offices; SALiGAL managing partner Amando Virgil D. Ligutan; and PECABAR Law lawyers Marforth T. Fua, Erwin G. Matib, Justine Anne L. Lamarca and James Bryan Ibrahim A. Alih.

A senior partner and founder of Kapunan & Castillo Law Offices, Kapunan brings nearly five decades of legal experience to the prosecution team. Her practice spans criminal litigation, corporate law, intellectual property, family law, commercial transactions, international humanitarian law and public-interest advocacy.

Widely recognized for handling high-profile cases, Kapunan has also been a longtime advocate for women's and children's rights, environmental protection and public accountability, adding considerable courtroom experience and public stature to the impeachment team.

According to Kapunan, the case goes beyond the prosecutors themselves and centers on protecting a key constitutional principle.

“This is not about us public and private prosecutors. This is about all of you, this is about the country, this is about public officials being called to task on their accountability, to the Constitution, and ultimately to the people,” Kapunan said.

Ligutan, who also serves as lead counsel for the third impeachment complaint against Duterte, said he joined the prosecution team because accountability should apply equally to everyone, regardless of status or family name.

“What signal would it give to our children, what signal would it give to generations of Filipinos that will follow?” Ligutan said, referring to a case involving a public school principal who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for pocketing P5,000.

“If we can send to jail somebody for pocketing P5,000 for 11 years, why can’t we remove from office the sitting vice president for misusing millions of pesos of public funds?” he stressed.

“We believe that the law must be applied equally with force to everyone, no matter how high your stature is in society. Having a famous family name should not give you a free pass,” he added.

For PECABAR Law managing partner Marforth Fua, the role of the private prosecutors is to ensure that the constitutional process is strictly observed throughout the impeachment proceedings.

“As vanguards of the Constitution, we see to it that the constitutional process as mandated in the Constitution is followed to the letter,” Fua said.

Fua said the private lawyers would provide litigation and trial support to the House prosecutors, many of whom have been away from courtroom practice since entering public office.

“It’s been a while since they litigated, so they need to be refreshed of the current rules of procedures, etc. So we are here to see to it that they get the necessary support and of course to help the cause and to exact accountability as well,” Fua said.

PECABAR lawyer James Bryan Ibrahim Alih also underscored the importance of the impeachment process.

“The business of impeachment and accountability of public officers is a serious one,” Alih said. “We are very, very happy to serve or to contribute in any manner to the public prosecutors and we will see to it that we are at their disposal.”

The House of Representatives earlier impeached Duterte after securing enough votes to transmit the complaint to the Senate, setting the stage for a trial that could determine whether she remains in office and whether she could still seek public office in the future.

The first batch of private prosecutors is expected to formally enter its appearance before the Senate impeachment court when the House prosecution panel submits its pre-trial brief on June 15.

The addition of the 10 volunteer lawyers gives the prosecution panel a deep bench of legal talent, combining decades of courtroom experience, anti-corruption work, corporate litigation and public-interest advocacy in one of the most consequential political cases in recent years.