Metro Manila, Philippines – In two separate statements, Senator Robin Padilla reiterated his concerns about the one-sidedness of the prosecution panel in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
During the session on Wednesday, July 22, Padilla said the prosecution – whose job is to prove the guilt of Vice President Sara Duterte – should not be one-sided. This has gone viral.
READ: Alleged perjury, unfair treatment, and interruptions on Day 9 of impeachment trial
In one statement addressed to House lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro early Thursday morning, July 23, he said: “Ang hustisya po ay neutral.”
“Ang tungkulin ng prosecution ay hindi para manalo, kundi para sa katotohanan at proteksyon ng inosente. Ang tungkulin naman ng defense (tagapagtanggol) ay ang pagtiyak sa karapatang pantao at balanse sa kapangyarihan,” said the senator-judge.
[Translation: Justice is neutral. The duty of the prosecution is not to win, but for truth and to protect the innocent. The duty of the defense is to ensure the protection of the respondent’s human rights and the balance of power.]
Padilla said that under an ideal legal system, the prosecution and the defense should work towards justice and that justice should be blind to political alliances.
An hour later, he issued another statement providing more context.
“Simple ang punto: fairness at consistency. Kung kinikilala ng prosecution na hindi awtomatikong disqualified ang isang witness dahil sa conviction, bakit hindi muna gawin ang lahat ng legal na paraan upang mabigyan din ng pagkakataong makalahok ang mga Senator-Judge na may kinakaharap na kaso ngunit hindi pa convicted?” Padilla wrote.
[Translation: The point is simple: fairness and consistency. If the prosecution recognized that a witness is not automatically disqualified because of a conviction, why would they not exhaust all legal avenues to allow senator-judges who are facing charges, but not convicted, the opportunity to participate?]
During his questioning of the prosecution, Padilla said the panel’s witnesses National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc and Special Agent John Mark Calilung were facing perjury charges.
Luistro clarified that if the witnesses were convicted, it still would not be grounds to disqualify them “unless it is final and it is punishable by more than one year and that the crime constitutes moral turpitude.”
Meanwhile, Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta are under arrest pending their non-bailable plunder charges. Senator Ronald dela Rosa is in hiding and evading an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for crimes against humanity for murder in relation to the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war.
Padilla himself is facing an obstruction of justice charge for allegedly aiding Dela Rosa in evading authorities.
The actor-turned-politician was convicted in 1993 for illegal possession of firearms. He was sentenced by a lower court to 17 to 21 years in prison, which was subsequently modified by the Supreme Court in 1997 to an indeterminate penalty of 10 years and one day as minimum to 18 years, eight months, and one day as maximum. He was granted a conditional pardon by President Fidel Ramos in 1997 and received an absolute pardon from President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, which fully restored his civil and political rights.
Can prosecutors be neutral?
Members of the prosecution panel questioned Padilla’s logic in a post-trial briefing on Wednesday.
“It is very much anticipated that the prosecution is biased towards presenting the case, presenting the evidence. Siguro mas nakakapagtaka ‘pag naging neutral ang prosecution at kung i-defend namin ang respondent,” Luistro said.
[Translation: It would be even more surprising if the prosecution were neutral and if we defended the respondent.]
Luistro added that the senator-judges should be neutral.
Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan held similar sentiments, saying: “The prosecution is really for the prosecution and the defense is for the defense. As we say, it is the nature of the beast.”
