Prosecutor’s premature ‘closing statement’ called out by Escudero, Pia Cayetano

Barely into the second day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, proceedings hit a tense moment after one of the private prosecutors was called out for delivering what senators described as a premature closing argument.

Private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan (Senate of the Philippines photo)

Hontiveros asked private prosecutor Amando Virgil Ligutan why Duterte’s alleged threats against President Marcos constitute an impeachable offense.

During the trial, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent John Mark Calilung read into the record Duterte’s Oct. 18, 2024 statement, in which she spoke about her already “toxic” relationship with the President, where she also mentioned imagining the “beheading” of President Marcos and remarked about exhuming the remains of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and throwing them into the West Philippine Sea.

The prosecution also presented a portion of Duterte’s more than two-hour online press conference on Nov. 23, 2024, where she was heard saying she had supposedly instructed someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself were killed first.

In answering Hontiveros’ question, Ligutan stated that what Duterte did was not normal, and it was the first time that a sitting Vice President made such remarks.

“Even without going into a question: ‘Is that a criminal act?’ That act, 110 percent sure, betrayed the public trust that the Vice President got in the previous elections,” he said.

After this response, Impeachment Court Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero stated that Hontiveros’ query pertains to the final question of the entire impeachment proceedings.

With this, he allowed the respondent’s counsel to respond to why it’s not an impeachable offense, along with the same amount of time given to the prosecution.

“Statements were made by the counsel of the prosecutor that are conclusions of fact and law already, which should be taken upon advisement of the Impeachment Court,” Escudero added.

Senator-Judge Pia Cayetano manifested that what Ligutan stated was already a “closing statement” and asked the presiding officer to call them out if the questions they’re making are not proper.

“Because it is not right. We must follow the rules, and I know you are being courteous to all of us, but that was a closing statement,” she said.

“Do not take advantage of the generosity of this impeachment court,” she added.

Cayetano then made a motion that the statement be stricken from the record.

Escudero tabled the motion and said that it will be acted upon at a later time.

Hontiveros clarified that her question is related to how evidence is material to the allegations in the Articles of Impeachment, since it was not proven that Duterte contracted an assassin, stating that it was not her intention to provoke a closing statement from the prosecution. — Dhel Nazario