Impeachment court removes 'absurd' comments from the record

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Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Wednesday ruled to strike from the record the “absurd” remark mentioned in the trial amid discussions on the findings of financial forensic analyst Atty. Alexander Cabrera.

This developed on the 42nd day of the impeachment trial, after defense witness Atty. Suzette Balucanag-Punay, the in-house counsel for Gencorp Industries, Inc. and Metro City Chow Foods Corporation, described as “absurd” Cabrera’s findings that Vice President Sara Duterte has alleged 20% ownership in Gencorp Industries.

“This is inaccurate, sir… It is inconsistent from the records of the corporation,” Punay said.

“Because the total amount paid up for corporate records is just P1,250,000. And I do not know what will happen if we add 20% because, according to the forensic report, Sara has 20%, then the amount paid would be P1.5 million. So I don’t know where to put it. Sorry,” she added.

Asked by defense counsel Justin Gular how she would describe such a situation, the witness answered, “It’s absurd.”

Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan immediately moved to strike Punay’s comment off the record.

“Absurd based on what, Your Honor? Absurd is a conclusion. It is a conclusion of fact, conclusion of law, and more than that, it is an opinion. I can also say that her testimony is absurd, Your Honor, for the same reason,” Kapunan said.

Gular argued that the witness has the right not to be badgered.

“To call a witness’ testimony ‘absurd’ without basis is badgering our witness," the defense lawyer said.

Escudero intervened in the exchange of the counsels, and ruled to strike out the “absurd” remarks of both the witness and Kapunan from the records.

Kapunan clarified that she did not exactly say that Punay’s statement is “absurd.”

“You can say but you did not say, but we already heard. That will be stricken off from the record too to be fair,” Escudero said. —VAL, GMA News