Madriaga camp: Perjury case offers chance to defend claims

A second perjury complaint filed by Vice President Sara Duterte has given Ramil Madriaga another legal forum to defend statements that were cited as evidence in an impeachment complaint against her, his lawyers said Tuesday.

“Every proceeding carries its own evidentiary threshold. We welcome the opportunity to confront these accusations at every stage and under every applicable quantum of evidence,” the law firm Palad Lauron Palad & Te said in a statement.

Duterte filed the second perjury complaint Monday before the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office, accusing Madriaga of making false statements in his 11 April supplemental affidavit.

The complaint, filed under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code, runs to about 1,000 pages and includes Duterte’s sworn testimony, statements from 12 corroborating witnesses, government documents and certifications, as well as contemporaneous messages, photographs and public records, Duterte’s lawyer, Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., said.

Madriaga’s lawyers said the additional proceeding would give their client another opportunity to have the disputed statements tested before the proper authorities.

“The more forums in which the truth is tested, the more opportunities there are for the truth to prevail,” they said.

The lawyers also cautioned against treating the volume of Duterte’s filing as evidence of the strength of her case.

“A complaint, whether it consists of ten pages or a thousand, does not establish guilt,” they said. “Neither does the sheer number of affidavits or attachments substitute for competent and credible evidence.”

They said Madriaga was prepared to answer the complaint with “actual, competent, and independently verifiable evidence.”

“We will meet these accusations with the evidence, the truth, and the law,” they said.

Madriaga’s supplemental affidavit was cited as evidence in an impeachment complaint against Duterte. He has described himself as a former aide and “bagman” of the vice president and has made allegations involving cash deliveries, confidential funds and political activities linked to the Duterte family.

Duterte has denied knowing Madriaga and rejected his allegations. She previously filed a perjury complaint against him, also accusing him of making false statements under oath.