Vice President Sara Duterte’s legal team on Monday asked the Senate impeachment court to dismiss the articles of impeachment against her, citing supposed constitutional infirmities, procedural defects and insufficient evidence to support the charges.

Lead defense counsel Michael Poa and four other lawyers personally filed the Vice President’s 50-page answer at the Senate at 4:30 p.m., hours before the 7 p.m. deadline set by the impeachment court.

Poa said the defense raised constitutional and procedural issues, as well as substantive deficiencies in the allegations.

“We raised what we saw or what we believe to be constitutional infirmities, defects in the procedure and also the deficiency in the substantive aspect of these allegations,” Poa told reporters.

“We feel that the allegations do not rise to the level of impeachable offenses against the Vice President.

And for that, those are the grounds by which we think dismissal is warranted,” he said.

Despite seeking a dismissal, Poa said the defense is prepared to confront the allegations during trial and remains “very confident” that Duterte did not commit any impeachable offense.

The Vice President did not personally appear at the filing, although Poa said she would attend the proceedings “if needed.”

‘Baseless’

Among the issues raised by the defense was the supposed lack of evidence attached to the original impeachment complaints.

Poa argued that much of the evidence cited by the House prosecutors surfaced only during committee hearings after the defense had already submitted its responses.

“There is no evidence attached to the impeachment complaints. The alleged evidence they released was only gathered in committee proceedings after we had already filed our answer to the committee on justice,” Poa said.

The defense also alleged that the House proceedings were tainted by pre-judgment, claiming that some lawmakers had publicly declared there were already sufficient votes and overwhelming evidence to impeach Duterte even before the hearings concluded.

The Vice President faces allegations of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

The accusations stem largely from the alleged misuse of more than P600 million in confidential funds, alleged unexplained wealth, and an alleged plot against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

No delays

Poa likewise argued that some allegations involved acts that supposedly occurred before Duterte became Vice President and there was no evidence that the assets in question were illegally acquired.

Meanwhile, House prosecutor and Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno said the Senate should proceed with the impeachment trial without delay.

The prosecution panel is expected to file its reply within five days. The trial is scheduled to begin on 6 July and is set to run three times a week.