Sara Duterte camp hits House hearing, calls evidence ‘curated, spliced’
MANILA, Philippines — Legal counsel for Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday criticized the House Committee on Justice’s impeachment proceedings, saying the evidence presented in its latest hearing failed to establish a sufficient case against Duterte.
In a media release dated April 30, lawyer Paul Lawrence Lim claimed that the allegations of inciting to sedition and grave threats were supported by “curated” and even “spliced” materials, with key context allegedly ignored.
“The presentation on the Vice President’s alleged commission of Inciting to Sedition and Grave Threats at yesterday’s House Committee on Justice hearing publicly reveals the paucity of the charges against her,” Lim, the counsel of the Vice President in the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), said.
READ: Gerville Luistro bares possible prosecution team
“Opinion is substituted for facts. Guesswork is presented as investigation results,” he added, arguing that these could not serve as the basis for probable cause or a prima facie case.
These statements came as the justice panel on Wednesday’s final clarificatory hearing voted unanimously on the existence of probable cause on the two impeachment complaints against the vice president.
READ: Panel finds ‘probable cause’ to impeach Sara Duterte
During the said hearing, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) submitted an affidavit of its investigation into the alleged death threats that the Vice President made at a virtual press conference against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Videos of the vice president’s remarks, which were replayed in the hearing, were likewise authenticated by the NBI, saying they were neither edited nor AI-made.
Moreover, the counsel also disputed attempts to link Duterte to alleged death threats against the president, saying such claims require a “gigantic leap in logic” and disregard basic evidentiary principles.
“The non-existent connection to the Vice President is posed as a mystery still under investigation with no immediate answer, but strategically implies guilt. This excites judgment without evidence,” Lim said.
Lim further described the proceedings as a “fishing expedition” meant to lend credibility to what he described as “defective impeachment complaints” against Duterte.
With the committee hearings concluded, Lim said the matter should now be addressed in the proper legal forums, “where evidence is expected to support judgment, and the rule of law is expected to be respected.” /mr
