Palace: No public resources wasted in Duterte impeachment trial if facts, documents were presented to public

MANILA — There were no public resources wasted in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte if facts were presented to the public, Malacañang said Thursday. 

This was in response to Duterte’s spokesperson on Wednesday who claimed that the withdrawal of three impeachment articles against her wasted millions of pesos in taxpayers’ money spent for operations during the trial.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said while the Palace is not passing judgement, she argued that all parties were given due process.

“Nagkaroon ng presentation ng prosecution and then after that, nagkaroon ng cross-examination; nagkaroon ng rebuttal, surrebuttal. So, lahat po ng concerned parties ay nag-participate. So, walang maaaring masabing nasayang kung mayroon namang naipakitang mga facts, data na maaaring makapagpaliwanag sa taumbayan,” she said in a press briefing Thursday, October 15. 

Castro, in her personal capacity as a lawyer, also rejected a possible mistrial as earlier warned by the Defense team, arguing that even the defense team did not lodge opposition but merely a “manifestation” when the prosecution dropped the three impeachment articles.

“Ang mistrial kasi kapag sinabi natin, the other party was not given any chance to present herself; he was not given the chance to present evidence. But in this case, since nagkaroon ng cross-examination, generally and personally on my part, hindi siya matatawag na mistrial,” she stated.

“Kung hindi nagkaroon ng cross-examination, the other party was not given a chance to cross-examine the witnesses presented, then that’s the time we can say there’s a mistrial. Pero sa sitwasyon na ito, walang masasabing mistrial because they were given ample time and opportunities to cross-examine the witnesses presented by the prosecution,” she added.

The Palace official noted that while the prosecution dropped the three articles, it will not hinder relevant investigating bodies to conduct an inquiry.

“Iba iyong impeachment, iba iyong impeachment court, iba iyong criminal case. So with prejudice with regard to impeachment, pero hindi ma-stop, hindi mapapatigil, mapapahinto ang ibang investigating agencies na mag-imbestiga regarding this,” she said.