Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday defended her lead defense counsel, Sheila Sison, against accusations of bullying from a private prosecutor in her impeachment trial, saying the lawyer was being unfairly vilified for doing her job.
Duterte's statement came a day after private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan called Sison a bully and accused her of disrespecting the prosecution and the senator-judges after the defense described the impeachment proceedings as “persecution.”
“Lorna Kapunan calling a defense counsel a bully is like calling David the aggressor against Goliath. It is a convenient way to vilify the person defending against an overwhelming display of political power,” Duterte said.
Duterte cited the defense team's long hours and personal sacrifices in preparing for the impeachment trial.
“What exactly is the defense counsel’s role in these alleged political transactions? None. She is simply doing her job. Since 2023, the defense team has devoted countless hours to preparing for this case, sacrificing sleep, family time, and peace of mind to study documents and prepare their defense,” Duterte added.
The House inquiry into Duterte's use of confidential funds, however, began only in September 2024.
Duterte reiterated that she was being politically persecuted through the impeachment proceedings.
“If impeachment and the national budget are being used as instruments of political survival of the corrupt, then it is the people, not the defense counsel, who are being taken for granted,” Duterte said.
Duterte was responding to remarks Kapunan made at a post-hearing press conference on Tuesday, when the private prosecutor accused Sison of bullying the prosecution by repeatedly using terms such as “persecution,” “accused” and “denial of due process” in her statements before the impeachment court.
Kapunan also expressed dismay over the ruling of Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero, who denied the prosecution's motion to strike Sison's use of the word “persecution” from the record.
“The ruling of the presiding officer to let it (persecution remark remain), I think it's not fair. In my years of practice, I know what bullying is. I am a defender of those who are victims of bullying. And that's exactly what the head defense counsel always does to us,” Kapunan said.
Kapunan accused Sison of using her statements before the impeachment court to question the fairness of the proceedings and portray Duterte as a victim of persecution.
“She bullies us and inserts into her manifestations words like persecution, words like accused [instead of respondent Vice President], words like denial of due process, words like there is no fairness and justice here,” she added.
“She (Sison) is a bully. And there is no place for bullying in a Senate impeachment court. Not only that, hindi lang bullying, gagamitin ko na yung word, bastos. Binabastos niya, hindi lang ang prosecution, pati ang senator judges as she did today. Huwag naman,” Kapunan said.
(She is disrespectful, not only to the prosecution but also to the senator-judges. She should stop that.)
The dispute arose during Tuesday's impeachment court proceedings, when Sison described the case against Duterte as “persecution” while objecting to the prosecution's decision to drop three of the four Articles of Impeachment against the Vice President.
“I would take that the November 9 resumption of hearing [for the defense presentation of evidence] is not really to presume that the prosecution or persecution of the respondent will continue on set dates,” Sison said.
The prosecution had presented evidence on Article 1, which concerns the alleged misuse of confidential funds, and Article 4, which involves alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family.
The prosecution's decision to drop three articles left Article 2 as the remaining charge to be pursued. It alleges that Duterte had unexplained wealth because of the non-declaration of assets in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) and her failure to divest business interests despite a constitutional prohibition.
House lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro moved to strike Sison's use of the word “persecution” from the record, saying both sides should observe proper decorum and courtesy despite being adverse parties.
“We hope that the impeachment court will remind the defense that while we are adverse parties we are bound to extend the necessary decorum and courtesy in this impeachment court. I move to strike persecution [word] which was used three times by the defense from the transcript of records of the honorable impeachment court,” Luistro said.
Luistro also said the prosecution's painstaking efforts to present credible evidence should not be dismissed as mere “persecution.”
“On the use of persecution, we take offense to that. It is totally unfair on the part of the volunteer lawyers who are leaving their private practice just to be here to support the public prosecutors. It is totally unfair for all the people helping the prosecution team, exhibiting their dedication and hard work in preparing and presenting evidence before the impeachment court,” Luistro added.
Escudero denied the motion, allowing the remark to remain on record.
“Let it remain as it is. It is a description from the point of view of the respondent [as indicated in her written answer], and how they (defense) view the complaint filed against their client,” Escudero said.— MCG, GMA News
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