Pulong: ‘Why drop articles after beating VP Sara down?’
A lawmaker at the House of Representatives questioned the decision of the prosecution panel to drop its case on three out of four Articles of Impeachment, arguing that Vice President Sara Duterte should be given the equal opportunity to present her evidence to defend herself.
“After you beat her down, you’re just going to withdraw all of a sudden?” Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte said through a Facebook post. “For months, you accused, attacked, and dragged people’s names through the mud.”
Pulong would also challenge the assertion of prosecutors that the move was a form of strategy, maintaining that the 11-lawmaker group should stand firm on its allegations and be prepared to hear the counter-evidence of his sister.
The younger brother of Sara expressed that the prosecution panel could not view the withdrawal of articles a victory, particularly as there was public funds that were used for the conduct of the proceedings.
“The Filipino people deserve accountability, not political theatrics. Impeachment is not a game, and the damage caused by the accusation you spread cannot be easily erased,” he stated.
Pulong called out the supposed hypocrisy of prosecutors in calling out the alleged impeachable offenses of the Vice President, stressing that they themselves were also “corrupt” in their own regardings.
Further expressing his anger on the development, the lawmaker borrowed the “mahiya naman kayo” phrase of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. when the latter first slammed congressmen for involvement in corruption linked to infrastructure projects.
“If you have the courage to slander, you must also have the courage to answer. You are masters of slandering your fellow human beings, but you are also corrupt,” he said.
Two years but no answers
In response to the statement of their fellow lawmaker, public prosecutor and Manila Rep. Joel Chua expressed that Sara had been given every platform available to answer the allegations that were raised against her.
Chua said that the public had waited for her answers to issues such as her alleged misuse of confidential funds but has received no answers from the Vice President.
“[The Duterte camp] can not say that they have not been given the opportunity to answer the allegations. The public has waited for two years for them to answer these allegations and up to now there has been no answer from their side,” he said in a press conference.
“If they really had answers, then they should have answered to the [Commission on Audit,” he added.
The matters that the lawmaker was referring to was the decision from the Commission on Audit (CoA) to affirm with finality its disallowance of P73 million of confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President.
The said issue was among the three impeachment articles that prosecutors decided to drop from the impeachment proceedings, leaving its case on Sara’s alleged unexplained wealth.
Impeachment court presiding officer Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Tuesday, 12 October, accepted the manifestation of the prosecution panel while setting the beginning of Duterte’s lawyers presentation of evidence on 9 November.