Prosecution to defense: Don’t delay impeach trial

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyers of Vice President Sara Duterte should not engage in delaying tactics in presenting her defense before the Senate impeachment court, nor should they employ any filibuster methods to drag the case even further.

“The defense has every right to present its evidence. But the right to defend must not become a license to delay, distract and drown out the truth,” impeachment adviser and spokesman Robert Ace Barbers said yesterday.

Barbers cautioned the defense team against using an avalanche of witnesses, repetitive testimonies and political distractions to prolong the impeachment proceedings and evade the central questions confronting the respondent under Article II of the complaint, which is unexplained wealth.

“Let us be clear: this is not a numbers game. The issue is not how many witnesses the defense can put on the stand, but what those witnesses can actually establish. If they have documents, records and credible explanations that answer the questions, then present them,” he said.

“But if the strategy is to recycle arguments, attack personalities and divert attention from the evidence, the senator-judges and the public will see through it,” he added.

Barbers emphasized that the proceedings must remain focused on the financial issues raised in Article II, including the questions concerning the respondent’s declared assets, income, business interests and the explanations offered for the wealth under scrutiny.

He also cautioned against any attempt to use the remaining proceedings to reopen the political battle over withdrawn impeachment articles without regard to the court’s rulings.

“The defense is entitled to challenge the prosecution’s case within the rules, but neither side should be permitted to use the proceedings to circumvent the court’s established limits. The senator-judges must be allowed to concentrate on the issues properly before them,” he said.

Insertions

Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro distanced herself from allegations of insertions in their approval of the 2027 national budget, where P1.3 billion was earmarked for the second district of Batangas.

In a radio interview yesterday, Luistro pointed out she was told the amount allocated in the National Expenditure Program that the executive department has proposed was kept by lawmakers when they approved House Bill 10858 on third and final reading.

“I don’t understand how things like that of me being tagged as having one of the highest allocations will happen,” she said, refuting imputations by budget watchdog People’s Budget Coalition of alleged irregularities.

Luistro stressed she’s still in the process of verifying any alleged insertion.

Meanwhile, opposition Rep. Edgar Erice has decried the House-approved P7.2- trillion national budget for 2027, whose ballooned P62-billion Local Government Support Fund (LGSF) will not necessarily benefit local government units (LGUs) across the country.

“It (LGSF) did not result in the equitable distribution of funds for LGUs. And it is not consistent with the national fiscal program. The guidelines are all-encompassing with the government projects,” he said.

In an interview with Bilyonaryo News Channel in the program hosted by journalist Marichu Villanueva and lawyers Jesus Falcis and Jimmy Bondoc, Erice described the House-approved 2027 General Appropriations Bill a “mini Zaldy Co budget” – insinuating anomalies.

“There were many insertions in this 2027 budget. The budget for foreign-assisted projects has been slashed, and P11 billion of the funds were transferred to the public works allocation. The guidelines should have been clear-cut,” he said.

“This is also the reason why I call it (LGSF) the President’s pork barrel, precisely because it is by nature a discretionary fund of the President: he sets the identification of the project, sets the amount for the project and decides when to release the funds,” Erice explained.

“The guidelines should not be too broad. Under the present system, it’s anything under the sun,” he said.

Erice described the House[1]approved 2027 General Appropriations Bill a “mini  Zaldy Co budget” – insinuating anomalies.