“That’s not true. That’s fake news.”
That was what House Lead Public Prosecutor Gerville Luistro had to say about circulating reports that she along with members of the impeachment prosecution team were dominated by the defense counsel of Vice President Sara Duterte during the first day of the pre-trial conference last 18 June.
Luistro urged the public to be wary of the information and reports that they see online regarding the proceedings, particularly in the nearing impeachment trial proper that was initially scheduled to begin on 6 July.
“That is not true, I charge it to fake news, and the people should become very cautious now in watching from the social media. We should be careful in deciphering what is correct and what is false,” she said during a press conference at the Senate.
“Of course I am cautious that I am representing the interest of the sovereign Filipino people, I would not allow the fight of the Filipino people to simply be ‘eaten alive’,” she added in vernacular.
Numerous reports have come out concerning the first day of the pre-trial conference which was held last 18 June. Given the closed-door nature of the process, much of the information shared has been through the prosecution and defense teams themselves.
However, the report that the lawmaker was referring to detailed that Atty. Sheila Sison, the lead counsel of Duterte’s camp, had taken control of the first official meeting between the two parties.
It also claimed that the House prosecution team were supposedly unprepared, deferring to private prosecutor and veteran lawyer Atty. Lorna Kapunan to speak on their behalf. Such assertions were also debunked by Luistro.
“We are not struggling, we are very much prepared. But as I have said, it has been our position to have this pre-trial conference in an expeditious manner. So regardless, of the manifestations that were raised by the defense, including counter stipulations, we maintain our position that that can not be resolved by the clerk of court,” she said.
“Our refusal to comment on the manifestations of the defense doesn’t mean that we are not prepared, we simply maintained our position that those issues are not proper for PTC and therefore we must confine to the agenda of the pre-trial conference,” she added.
In standard court proceedings, the pre-trial conference is the stage wherein members of the prosecution and defense present their respective list of witnesses and evidence for marking and scheduling for presentation.
Among the main issues resolved during the process is the determination of the length of the proceedings, a matter that would ultimately be decided on by the presiding judge of the trial.
According to the newly-introduced legal spokesperson of the prosecution team, Atty. Jay Tolosa, their group had asked for 62 trial dates while the defense only asked for 30.
Tolosa noted that the petition of the defense was somewhat questionable given that similar to them, the camp of the Vice President also had multiple witnesses to present.
To recall, Duterte was impeached at the House of Representatives last 11 May based on four Articles of Impeachment which revolved around issues concerning her unexplained wealth, misuse of confidential funds, bribery of public officials, and verbal threats towards high-ranking government figures.
The Vice President has yet to physically appear during the entire process.