Chua: If defense boycotts, impeach court can give VP public lawyers

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Rep. Joel Chua believes the Senate Impeachment Court can assign Vice President Sara Duterte public lawyers to defend her, should members of the defense panel decide to boycott the impeachment proceedings.

Chua said this in a press briefing on Friday after being asked about the possibility that the defense panel opts to skip the trial —  a matter which was also asked during a separate interview with Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, as the defense had said that their participation in the trial will be made ad cautelam or with caution.

According to Chua, the Senate Impeachment Court can assign lawyers from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) to ensure that she can continue to defend herself.

Article continues after this advertisement

“I believe that our impeachment court can assign a lawyer for the defense, through the PAO, so if the current defense panel would really refrain from participating, our presiding officer can assign a lawyer to defend the vice president,” Chua told reporters at the Batasang Pambansa complex.

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

READ: No TRO, no halt: Gatchalian says Duterte trial to go on amid SC petition

“What they (defense) have to do is to file a withdrawal of appearance; that is what they need to do if they would not attend. With that, our presiding officer can assign a lawyer,” he added.

Counsel for the prosecution Benjamin Tolosa Jr. said that it will be an unfortunate situation if the defense panel really skips the trial, but he said it would not stop the impeachment court from hearing the case.

“Well, that will be unfortunate,” Tolosa said. “But if that is what they will do — we do not want to preempt them as to what steps they will take — the Senate President has already answered that question; he said the case will continue as it has started.”

Article continues after this advertisement

“It should continue because the Constitution states that they should try and decide this impeachment case,” he added.

Tolosa explained that the prosecution also has an obligation to continue presenting the case. Chua, on the other hand, asked why Duterte’s lawyers would even consider not attending the trial if they believe the prosecution has no evidence to pin the vice president down.

Article continues after this advertisement

“So, we all have an obligation to ensure that we will finish laying down evidence, and then after that they can decide, so we’ll present the evidence ex parte. So the prosecution’s obligation to present the evidence and the senator-judges’s obligation to decide based on evidence due to a party’s refusal to attend will not stop,” Tolosa said.

“If they believe that there is no sufficient evidence, what are they afraid of? At the end of the day, it is the people who would say whether what the prosecution is doing is right or wrong,” Chua added.

The defense team has not explicitly said that they will no longer participate in the proceedings but lead counsel for the respondent Sheila Sison manifested that the respondent’s participation in trial will now be made “ad cautelam” or with caution or express reservation.

Sison’s statements came after the Senate Impeachment Court allowed a lower minimum number of votes to convict Duterte, should some senator-judges be absent when it issues a verdict.

A total of 13 senator-judges voted in favor of allowing a lower requirement for conviction based on a lower denominator, with only one voting against it — Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero.

Six senator-judges, all members of the minority led by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, did not participate in the voting.

“We therefore put on record that, even as we understand that this tribunal will proceed as it deems fit, we are nonetheless constrained to place on record that, from this day forward, the respondent’s participation, or any participation that the respondent may have in this trial, shall be with express reservation, or ad cautelam, and that she reserves every right to exhaust all legal remedies available under our laws and the Constitution,” Sison noted.

Previously, Gatchalian said that the impeachment court would proceed even if Duterte’s defense panel chooses not to appear when proceedings resume next week.

According to Gatchalian, it is their responsibility “to try and decide” the impeachment case as long as they have a quorum.

Similarly, Gatchalian said the trial will proceed because the Supreme Court (SC) has not issued a temporary restraining order on the impeachment court’s decision to lower the minimum number of votes needed for conviction.

Article XI, Section 3(5) of the 1987 Constitution states that an impeached official will only be convicted upon the “concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.”

Two-thirds of the 24 members of the Senate is 16, but the absence of several senator-judges have raised questions from different sides.  Some individuals supportive of the vice president have insisted that all members of the Senate refer to all senators even if they are beyond the coercive powers of the chamber, since their titles as Senators were not removed from them.

However, others have asked how judges can make a sound decision if they have not observed the proceedings and have failed to study documents and witnesses’ testimonies.

This was the same point raised by the public prosecutor and Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno during the oral arguments on Wednesday.

READ: Diokno: If senator-judges are absent, will vacant seats decide case? 

As of Thursday, four senators have missed a huge chunk of the trial: Sens. Jinggoy Estrada, Rodante Marcoleta, and Ronald dela Rosa have not attended a single trial day, while Sen. Loren Legarda left the country in early August.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

Estrada and Marcoleta are detained on separate plunder charges, while dela Rosa has not appeared publicly since reports surfaced of an International Criminal Court arrest order against him. Legarda, on the other hand, is on medical leave. /das