House prosecutor Gerville Luistro said the House is seeking accountability regardless of who — Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Win Gatchalian, or Francis "Chiz" Escudero — presides over Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial in the Senate.
“Whether it is former Senate President Alan or acting Senate President Win, or the one you mentioned, Senator Chiz, we express our faith and confidence in the accountability mechanism,” the congresswoman told reporters during a House press conference on Thursday.
Luistro stressed that the impeachment trial is not centered on the selection of a Senate presiding officer, noting that senators will serve as judges alongside both public and private prosecutors.
“This impeachment trial is not a question of who the presiding officer is, who the senator-judges are, or who the public and private prosecutors are,” she said.
“Through the impeachment trial, we’re trying to exact accountability from public officials,” the member of the prosecution panel added.
The House member, however, emphasized that the prosecutors are not solely concerned with acquitting or convicting the Vice President but with upholding and preserving accountability in a democratic country.
“This is in response to the Constitution’s core principle, which says that public office is a public trust and that public officials must be accountable to the people at all times,” Luistro said.
The congresswoman noted that the circumstances surrounding the first impeachment case in the 19th Congress differ from those surrounding the second impeachment complaint.
“If, indeed, Senator Chiz Escudero will be designated as the Senate presiding officer, let us not judge him on the basis of what happened during the first impeachment in the 19th Congress,” Luistro said.
