Lacson: No one is blocking Trillanes from impeachment trial

MANILA, Philippines — Senator-judge Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Saturday said that there’s no truth to claims that former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was blocked from appearing before the Senate impeachment court to testify.

“Hindi, hindi totoo ‘yon,” Lacson said when asked during a DWIZ interview if Trillanes’ assertion that he was blocked by Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero and some senator-judges to testify before the court was true.

(“No, that’s not true.”)

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At a press briefing on Friday, Trillanes has called out Escudero for allegedly singling him out on the issuance of subpoenas.

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READ: Trillanes won’t explain pressure, hits Escudero for not issuing subpoena

He expressed that he did not feel welcome, which prompted him to ask the House prosecution to remove him from the list of witnesses for Article II of the Articles of Impeachment on Vice President Sara Duterte’s trial.

But, Lacson explained, “Maliwanag yung ruling ng presiding officer, hindi magi-issue ng subpoena, pero kung magbo-bolentaryo na ipre-presenta ng prosecution si Sen. Trillanes ay papayagan ng korte,”  

(“The presiding officer’s ruling is clear: no subpoena will be issued, however, if the prosecution voluntarily presents Sen. Trillanes, the court will allow it,”)

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He emphasized, “Maliwanag ‘yon, wala namang pumipigil,” 

(“That’s clear, no one is stopping it,”)

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Lacson has earlier dismissed the allegations made by Trillanes regarding the issuance of subpoenas, clarifying that the decision was not made by Escudero alone.

“Just so the public knows: not to defend the Impeachment Court’s presiding officer, but the decision not to subpoena former Sen. Sonny Trillanes wasn’t made by him alone,” he stated in a post in X, formerly Twitter, on Friday.

He then explained in the radio interview that the decisions made by the Senate impeachment court were decided by the 20 senator-judges present.

“Remember, twenty kami ngayon na nandiyan, so pwede siyang ma-overrule kung sa tingin namin, ng majority sa amin, o kung may magmi-move at mapagbo-botohan na makontra siya, babaguhin, ire-reverse ‘yong kanyang ruling,” he said.

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(“Remember, there are twenty of us there now, so it can be overruled if we—or the majority of us—think otherwise, or if someone moves to oppose it and a vote is held to change or reverse the ruling,”) /mr