Photo credit: Senate PH

A veteran litigator is urging the public to focus on documented facts—not noise—after weeks of high-profile hearings at the House Committee on Justice.

Speaking on dzMM Teleradyo, Atty. Lorna Kapunan said the panel has already reached the level needed to establish probable cause against Vice President Sara Duterte—a threshold that determines whether impeachment proceedings should move forward, not whether guilt is proven beyond doubt.

For Kapunan, the distinction matters. “This isn’t about final guilt,” she explained in a mix of Filipino and English. “What the committee needed to show is that a violation may have been committed and that the respondent is probably responsible—and that bar has been met.”

She also pushed back against narratives circulating outside the hearings, warning the public not to rely on press statements or online commentary. Instead, she pointed to official documents presented during the proceedings. “Follow the numbers,” she said. “Don’t be swayed by press releases or trolls. Let the records speak.”

According to Kapunan, the evidence examined by lawmakers did not come from speculation but from government sources—ranging from asset disclosures to financial monitoring reports. These include filings submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman, corporate records from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and transaction reports flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

“These are not opinions. These are not hearsay,” she stressed. “These are official documents. In litigation, this is what you call hard evidence.”

During one of the recent hearings, lawmakers flagged a dramatic rise in Duterte’s declared net worth—from ₱7.2 million in 2007 to ₱88.4 million in 2024. At the same time, the committee noted that she reported zero cash on hand and no bank deposits under personal assets for six straight years, from 2019 to 2024.

Financial records also came under scrutiny. The AMLC reported that more than 600 transactions amounting to ₱6.7 billion, linked to Duterte and her husband Mans Carpio, were tagged as either covered or suspicious between 2006 and 2025.

Some of those entries, Kapunan noted, matched records earlier presented by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV—including a reported ₱22 million transaction allegedly tied to businessman Samuel “Sammy” Uy.

Beyond the documents, Kapunan said the issue now is participation. She pointed out that the vice president had been given multiple opportunities to respond—first through a formal written reply, and later by appearing in hearings under oath.

Instead, she said, Duterte’s camp submitted what she described as a “non-answer,” while the vice president herself has repeatedly skipped the proceedings.

“The committee followed due process step by step,” Kapunan said, noting that documents were furnished and invitations to be heard were issued. “But in the hearings, they’re faced with an empty chair. You cannot talk to an empty chair.”

Kapunan also dismissed arguments questioning the committee’s authority, emphasizing that the Constitution clearly gives the House the power to initiate impeachment cases, with the Senate ultimately acting as the impeachment court.

For her, the bottom line is simple: the process is grounded in law, the evidence is on record, and the next step rests on whether lawmakers will act on what has already been laid out.

“The documents are there,” she said. “They speak for themselves.”