MANILA, Philippines — House prosecutor and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Co on Tuesday rejected Vice President Sara Duterte’s assertion that the impeachment complaint against her is unsupported by evidence, saying the proceedings before the Senate have so far presented evidence that has yet to be undermined.
Co was responding to a statement Duterte issued earlier Tuesday claiming that the country had seen during the impeachment trial that the complaint “is not supported by evidence.” The Vice President also asserted that the alleged threats and assassin “didn’t exist” and accused the prosecution of relying on fabricated evidence and unsupported allegations.
“Did we watch the same impeachment trial?” Co asked in a short media briefing during recess.
“We all watched the video. We all watched the evidence. We saw Vice President Sara utter those words,” she said.
Co argued that the defense has yet to challenge the existence or authenticity of the video presented by the prosecution, despite several days of cross-examination.
“As long as the existence of the video has not been challenged, and there has been no denial of the statements—only explanations—the arguments supporting the Articles of Impeachment remain strong,” she said.
She said the issue before the Senate is not limited to whether the remarks constituted threats, but whether a sitting vice president who made such statements should remain in office.
Co also clarified that the alleged threats are only one aspect of the impeachment complaint.
She said the Articles of Impeachment also include allegations of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes, adding that it is ultimately up to the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, to determine whether the evidence presented satisfies any or all of those constitutional grounds.
Her remarks came after National Bureau of Investigation lawyer Jeremy Lotoc underwent another day of cross-examination by Duterte’s defense team over the agency’s investigation into the Vice President’s remarks against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Co maintained that the impeachment trial has already presented the evidence for the Senate to evaluate, saying the proceedings should be judged on what has been introduced before the court rather than on competing public statements.
