Two members of the House of Representatives prosecution panel in the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte on Saturday said the foundation of the case has been laid down during the first week of the trial before the Senate.
Mamamayang Liberal Party-List Rep. Leila de Lima said the initial hearing of the trial saw the prosecution panel turning the allegations against Duterte into evidence.
“We have concluded the first week of the impeachment trial, during which we saw allegations transforming into evidence — since every prosecution begins with allegations and ends in proof,” she said at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.
“The first week was significant because the prosecution began converting the allegations outlined in the Articles of Impeachment into evidence that was then tested and subjected to cross-examination. This involved the first witness, (National Bureau of Investigation) agent John Mark Calilong. His primary role was to authenticate the videos of VP Sara that contained threats against the President, the First Lady, and the former House Speaker (Martin Romualdez),” the lawmaker added.
She noted that the conversion of the allegations into evidence “will be followed by other witnesses who will either corroborate the evidence or explain the meaning behind those recordings.”
At the same time, the former senator believed that the authenticity of the video will no longer be questioned by the defense team, as they have used portion of the video.
“Regarding the issue of authenticity, I noticed that the other party actually showed certain portions of the video as well. That serves as an admission that they did not question the authenticity of the video,” De Lima added.
For his part, Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno likened the role of the prosecution panel on the impeachment trial as like building a house.
“As I mentioned before, the prosecution’s task is like building a house. Naturally, we cannot build a house without a foundation,” he said.
“What transpired during last week’s proceedings was precisely the laying of the foundation for the case — particularly regarding the Articles of Impeachment. In the coming weeks, we will see the actual construction of the house. That is the difference between the prosecution and the defense. The defense acts as the demolition crew, whereas our task is to build the structure,” he said.
He said that they want the people to know the basis of the impeachment.
“We want everyone — not just the senator-judges but also the viewing public — to see the actual basis for these articles of impeachment, how they involve violations of our constitution or a betrayal of the public trust,” Diokno said.
“This is what we will demonstrate in the weeks ahead. The prosecution will perform this same role for each of the Articles of Impeachment,” he said. (PNA)