AFTER being mocked online for accusing prosecutors in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte of being one-sided, Sen. Robinhood Padilla on Saturday said it was their duty to ensure that justice is served, and not merely to secure a conviction.
Following his complaints that prosecutors were being “biased,” lead public prosecutor Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro and counsel for the prosecution Lorna Kapunan emphasized that the role of the prosecution is to prosecute Duterte, and it is the defense’s duty to prove her innocence.
“With all due respect to Senator-judge Robin Padilla, apparently this impeachment trial is adversarial — it is clearly why there is a prosecution; it is (for us) to establish the case. That’s why there is a defense panel, to defend the innocence of the respondent. So it is very much anticipated that the prosecution is biased towards presenting the case, presenting the evidence,” Luistro said.
Padilla doubled down on his statement, however.
"The primary duty of a public prosecutor is not to convict, but to see that justice is done," Padilla said in a statement.
The senator said that sending someone to prison should never be treated as a “trophy” or a badge of honor — even though the penalty for conviction in an impeachment trial is not imprisonment, but the removal from office and disqualification from holding any office in government.
Padilla sits in as a senator-judge in the impeachment trial, but his conduct has drawn heavy criticism for appearing openly sympathetic to the pro-Duterte defense.
