Ligutan tells defense: Post not for you, but for law students, public

MANILA, Philippines — Counsel for the prosecution Amando Virgil Ligutan has countered the defense panel’s criticism of his Facebook post about misleading questions not being allowed even during cross-examination, noting that the statement was not issued for them, but for law students and the general public.

In his counter-manifestation on Wednesday, at the start of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, Ligutan said nothing in his post was personal, noting that he intended to clarify to the public that misleading questions are not allowed.

Last August 12, Ligutan made a post stating that a “principle all lawyers and law students know by heart” is that “misleading questions are not allowed even on cross-examination” — which led counsel for the defense Sheila Sison to claim was an attack on counsel for respondent Kristine Ferrer — particularly the exchange between Ferrer and private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan.

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READ: Lead Duterte counsel Sison calls out prosecutor over viral trial clash 

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“To the defense, the post is not about you. It is not personal. It is about the law that we all adhere to. It is about what we teach the public who are watching our trial.  Correcting a mistake is never wrong. Doing it while a hearing is ongoing, online, does not make it wrong,” Ligutan said.

“Ang pagtatama ng mali ay hindi kailanman ipinagbabawal. Kahit sa loob ng impeachment court na ito (Correcting any mistake is never prohibited.  Even inside of this impeachment court),” he added.

LINK TO POST: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19JKzuzt2a/

Ligutan also reminded the defense and the Senate Impeachment Court that, beyond being a lawyer, he is a teacher—a law professor—and he cannot help but correct wrong perceptions being floated on social media.

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According to the lawyer, his instincts as a teacher kicked in amid questions on whether misleading questions were really applied.

“But more than just a lawyer, first and foremost I am a teacher. Isa po akong guro  and I am proud to be one […] At alam ng ating mga magigiting na guro sa buong kapuluan na ang pagtuturo ay likas sa atin.  Ang pagtuturo, ang pagtatama ng mali, ay walang pinipiling lugar, at walang pinipiling panahon.  That’s why I made that post,” Ligutan said.

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READ: Ridon to Sison: Don’t gaslight PH, lawyer said misleading queries OK 

(But more than just a lawyer, first and foremost I am a teacher.  I am a teacher, and I am proud to be one […] And our honorable teachers across the archipelago know that teaching is second nature to us.  Teaching and correcting mistakes don’t pick an area or a time.  That’s why I made that post.)

“I was concerned that the statement made in open court — that misleading questions are allowed — will go unchecked.  My teacher’s instinct kicked in.  I wanted the students I left in Cebu and in Diliman, and all law students out there, to know that a teacher had heard that wrong statement in open court, and he is correcting that mistake on Facebook, as I have been doing the past years,” he added.

In a tense moment during the cross-examination of state auditor Xylene Mae del Campo, Kapunan strongly objected to Ferrer’s habit of cutting the witness off before she is even able to provide an answer to the questions, and insisting that questions be answered by yes or no only.

Ferrer asked that she be allowed to conduct the cross-examination in her own manner, but Kapunan noted that some questions are not simply answerable by yes or no.

Later, Kapunan said that “misleading questions are not allowed,” to which Ferrer responded by saying that “it is allowed.” 

But Sison said that Ferrer’s “it is allowed” quip was not a reply to Kapunan’s “misleading questions are not allowed” even on cross-examination statement — making Ligutan’s social media post as something done in “bad faith.”

But several members of the prosecution team stood by Ligutan, like Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, who told Sison not to gaslight the country, as the transcripts would show that Ferrer really was responding to Kapunan and to her insistence that misleading questions are not allowed.

After Sison’s manifestation, Presiding Officer and Senator-judge Francis Escudero warned both the defense and the prosecution after both were observed making social media posts in relation to the proceedings.

“The presiding officer is already in the process of drafting a ruling and a warning and an order pertaining to this. Because clearly, I can even name all of you who’ve been commenting on social media in violation of Rule 18 of the impeachment rules,” he announced.

In response, lead public prosecutor and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said in an interview with INQUIRER that the prosecution has been following the rules — that they have been very mindful not to go over the prohibition, and that their interpretation is that as long as they do not touch on the merits of the case, they can speak about these matters.

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Luistro also stressed that Rule 18 of the Senate’s Rules of Impeachment applies not only to the prosecution and the defense lawyers, but also to Duterte and even senator-judges. /mr