Ombudsman to review impeachment prosecutors' evidence vs. VP Sara

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Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Thursday said that his office will review the evidence that the House prosecution will turn over from the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

After the House prosecution panel dropped three of the four articles of impeachment against Duterte, lead prosecutor Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville “Jinky” Luistro said that the prosecution team was ready to turn over any evidence to the Ombudsman if needed.

“Probably we will be needing sworn statements. We will evaluate it first. And we will see if we need sworn statements to come with the relay of information,” Remulla said in a press briefing in Cebu.

After presenting three articles of impeachment—Article IV on grave threats, Article I on confidential funds use, and Article II on unexplained wealth—the House prosecution panel withdrew the articles on grave threats and confidential funds. Article III, on bribery, was withdrawn earlier and not presented in court.

Luistro said that the evidence and testimonies presented in arguing these articles will not be wasted.

“As part of our appeal to the public, huwag po tayong manghinayang because these articles are not gone into waste sapagkat tuloy-tuloy po ang ibang ahensya ng ating pamahalaan to pursue criminal action with respect to these articles of impeachment,” Luistro said.

(As part of our appeal to the public, we urge you not to feel dismayed because these articles are not gone into waste as other agencies of the government will continue to pursue criminal action with respect to these articles of impeachment.)

Asked about the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) probe into Duterte’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), Remulla said that it needed to be validated first.

“Fact-finding muna yan [Fact-finding first]. So this is a process where we validate the facts that are being presented to us,” Remulla said.

The NBI is also investigating several properties that were linked to Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio. — BM, GMA News