House prosecutor Terry Ridon of the Bicol Saro Party-list said on Wednesday the decision to drop three of the four Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte was reached upon seeing the staggering amount of alleged unexplained or undeclared wealth of the second-highest official of the land.
At a press briefing, Ridon explained that what swayed the members of the prosecution team to focus on Article II was the findings of the financial forensic analyst, lawyer Alexander Cabrera, on just how much Duterte was hiding in terms of her actual assets and net worth.
“Ang pinagbatayan nun yung paglalahad ng total unexplained wealth ng pangalawang pangulo nung testimonya ni Attorney Alexander Cabrera kung saan binanggit niya more than PHP800 million, to be exact PHP817 million yung pinag-uusapan na estimated conservative unexplained wealth ng pangalawang pangulo (The basis for that was the disclosure of the Vice President’s total unexplained wealth during the testimony of Attorney Alexander Cabrera, where he mentioned that the estimated conservative unexplained wealth of the Vice President being discussed is more than PHP800 million – to be exact, PHP817 million),” he said.
If the most liberal calculation of Cabrera were to be used, Ridon said, the estimated unexplained or undeclared net worth of the Vice President would be about PHP1.5 billion.
“So, nung pinag-usapan ng mga prosecutors itong numero na ito, sabi namin dito na tayo tumutok. Ito ang ebidensya na kailangan para patunayan ang (When the prosecutors discussed this figure, we said this is what we should focus on. This is the evidence needed to prove the) article of impeachment on unexplained wealth,” he said.
“At katulad ng binabanggit namin, we will rise or fall on the basis of unexplained wealth, and we are convinced na ito yung talagang magiging batayan doon po sa pagpapasya ng ating mga senator-judges sa pinakadulo (And as we have been mentioning, we will rise or fall on the basis of unexplained wealth, and we are convinced that this will truly be the basis for the decision of our senator-judges in the very end).”
Speedy Trial That Public Will Understand
Manila City Rep. Joel Chua, who also serves as a member of the House prosecution, said there should be no question about the sincerity of the prosecution to hold the Vice President accountable for her alleged violations of the Constitution, as contained in the four Articles of Impeachment.
Chua explained that in impeachment cases, the prosecution only has to secure enough votes in one Article of Impeachment to convict the respondent.
“Hindi naman kinakailangan doon sa apat na artikulo ay ma-convict ang Vice President. Ang kinakailangan lamang ay isa (It is not necessary for the Vice President to be convicted on all four articles. Only one is required),” Chua said.
“So, kami kaya kami nag-arrive sa ganyang desisyon, dahil nakita namin na itong huli naming ipinresenta, yung unexplained wealth, ito yung mas mauunawaan, mas madaling mauunawaan ng ating mga kababayan (That is why we arrived at that decision, because we saw that this last one we presented, the unexplained wealth, is what our countrymen will understand better, what they will find easier to understand),” he said.
He said the prosecution was also mindful of the desire of all parties, including the public, to have an early conclusion of the impeachment proceedings.
“Nakita rin namin na kung ito ay hahayaan namin na ipresenta pa lahat, ay mas lalo lamang tatagal (We also realized that if we let everything be presented, it would only take much longer),” Chua added.
He said the prosecution does not expect the Vice President to provide any answers to the allegations raised against her, having refused to do so since 2004, when the initial investigations were conducted by the House of Representatives.
House prosecution adviser and spokesperson Ace Barbers said the efforts to hold the vice president accountable have been going on for two years already, and as seen in the number of witnesses and evidence presented during the impeachment trial, there has been no let-up in these efforts by the members of the panel.
“About our sincerity to hold her accountable, I believe it is pretty obvious; with all these witnesses that we presented and all this documentary evidence that we have submitted to the court, eh palagay ko hindi na matatawaran yung sincerity ng prosecution team, itong magagaling nating mga prosecutors, dun sa kanilang layunin na panagutin at eventually ay magkaroon ng pagtanggal sa pwesto at yung mga penal provisions or penalties dito sa usaping ito (I believe there is no questioning the sincerity of our excellent prosecutors when it comes to their goal of demanding accountability, pushing for removal from office, and applying the legal penalties in this case),” Barbers said. (PNA) | PNA photo by Avito Dalan)