House Prosecutor Rep. Terry Ridon said that Vice President Sara Duterte was not a “cheerleader” in her impeachment as the latter appeared at the Senate for the second day of her impeachment trial to confer with members of her defense counsel.

Ridon noted that Duterte cannot approach the trial as if she was merely an individual that was watching from the “sidelines” given that she herself was the respondent in the case being tried.

“She said she came here to support her defense panel, but again, she is not a cheerleader of her defense panel, she is the respondent in this case, so she needs to appear for her sake…because this is her trial, not just a trial for anyone,” the solon said.

“It is very important that the bloodbath should not happen from the sidelines, not through proxies, to face the trial, face the truth,” he added.

Hours before the second day of her trial on Tuesday, 7 July, the Vice President appeared at the Senate for the first time in her entire impeachment proceedings under the 20th Congress.

During her brief stay, Duterte delivered a short message to the media concerning her ongoing trial.

“In this bloodbath and bludgeoning, I will be bloodied but unbowed,” she said.

Aside from Ridon, House Trial spokespersons Rep. Renee Co and former congressman Robert Ace Barbers expressed that the statement issued by the Vice President did not necessarily address the allegations raised against her through the impeachment.

For Barbers, the statement which he said probably came from a famous poet called “Invictus” was just a mere expression of how she felt rather than a proper way to provide the senators that would be ruling over the matter with an answer that would counteract the evidence being thrown her way.

“It will not be an answer to all the allegations being thrown at her, now is the opportunity, when the evidence is there, look at the evidence, examine the evidence, listen to the evidence, and that is where the senator-judges will decide,” he said during a press conference prior to the proceedings,” he said.

Co, on the other hand, argued that Duterte was not the victim in the case that she was making herself out to be and that the people that truly suffered in the entire issue were the people that were unable to benefit due to the allocations for confidential funds at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

“The victims are the people, the victims are the individuals that were not provided with the proper service, provided more classrooms, educational or health services that the confidential funds could have been used for,” she said.

“We’re here today to know, and of course to give justice for the victims, that is the people. Although the issue on unexplained wealth is on the tail end, today what we want to address is to remove the culture of violence in governance,” she added.

Tuesday marked the first time that evidence would be presented during the trial with the presentation of the evidence gathered by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) official John Mark Calilung.

Calilung was called to testify concerning Duterte’s verbal threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.