VP Sara told: Stop playing victim

MANILA, Philippines —  As her legal team prepares to take its turn in presenting her side in the impeachment trial, Vice President Sara Duterte should focus on building up her defense instead of portraying herself as a victim, private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said yesterday.

“They always play the victim card. So again, let us remove that ‘kawawa naman ang VP syndrome’,” Kapunan said.

“She is not the victim, the public is the victim here. You’re talking about public funds. You’re talking about a public officer and impeachment,” she said.

“She should start presenting or building up her case. She should start talking to her father so that she is able to explain the accounts of the father and herself. She should start talking to her husband,” she said, referring to detained former president Rodrigo Duterte and her husband Manases Carpio.

The veteran lawyer argued that attention should focus on the hundreds of millions in the bank accounts and assets of Duterte and her family. “Whose money is this? These are public funds,” she pointed out.

Malacañang said it’s not questioning the move of the prosecution.

“Well, everybody, we are all for the truth. We are all for transparency and accountability. But if it’s the legal strategy of the prosecution, we cannot question whatever decision they make,” Palace press officer Claire Castro said.

Castro believes the evidence and documents presented relating to the withdrawn articles would likely to stay in the minds of Filipinos, although the Vice President can address them in various ways.

Citing records, prosecution witness accountant-lawyer Alexander Cabrera earlier confirmed the existence of P817.87 million in unexplained wealth of Duterte and her spouse.

He emphasized his figure was conservative, as the amount could reach P1.5 billion between 2022 and 2025 if other documents were included in his analysis.

House of Representatives impeachment team adviser and spokesman Robert Ace Barbers, meanwhile, maintained that the prosecution’s withdrawal of three of four cases against Duterte did not deprive her of due process.

“They (defense counsels) were given the opportunity to cross-examine our witnesses. The defense was also given the chance to examine or scrutinize the documentary evidence that we all presented,” Barbers pointed out.

The prosecution has opted to proceed solely with Article II, which covers allegations of unexplained wealth, discrepancies in Duterte’s asset declarations and the alleged retention of business interests in violation of constitutional restrictions.

“They were allowed to make the necessary reply. And that is the real essence of due process. That’s why I don’t know where Senator-Judge Cayetano is coming from when he said that due process will be sacrificed here,” he said.

For retired Supreme Court associate justice Noel Tijam, the dropping of the three Articles of Impeachment would “fortify suspicion that the impeachment court is a kangaroo court.”

“With the dropping of the three Articles of Impeachment against the Vice President, the spotlight has been refocused no longer solely on the Vice President but on Congress, the ombudsman and the executive department,” Tijam wrote on Facebook.

He added that the development would also spawn perception that the impeachment court “is weak and condescending to the defense and subservient to the prosecution.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Panfilo Lacson debunked Duterte spokesman Paolo Panelo’s claim that up to P500 million in public funds had been wasted hearing two Articles of Impeachment that were later withdrawn by the prosecution.

Lacson said the Senate’s budget for the ongoing impeachment trial was sourced from the P27.5-million continuing appropriations in last year’s national budget, when the first impeachment complaint was filed and later voided by the Supreme Court.

“Where did he get his P25M/day figure? As far as I know, the GAA 2025 budget for the impeachment trial, most of which has remained unspent (only roughly P2 million was disbursed for the judges’ robes and other items) from the original P27.5 million, is now being used under the ‘continuing appropriations’ provision in the General Appropriations Act,” Lacson said.

Lacson said Panelo might be referring to the Senate’s P25-million daily operating cost. - Ghio Ong, Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Helen Flores