Tulfo to Panelo: ‘There were no violations to the Constitution’

MANILA, Philippines — More senators on Thursday disputed the statement of Vice President Sara Duterte’s spokesperson, Atty. Paolo Panelo, who questioned the majority bloc’s silence after three of four articles of impeachment were dropped.

Panelo, in a statement, scrutinized the senator-judges’ “lack of outrage” on the time and resources that were supposedly wasted since days worth of the prosecution’s presentation will no longer serve a purpose to the court’s final verdict.

READ: Duterte camp hits prosecution, Senate majority over dropped articles

Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo, in an interview at the Senate, asked on what basis should they retaliate to the dropping of charges.

“Bakit ka naman papalag, sir? May viniolate ba ‘yung prosecution sa Constitution? I don’t think so… Siguro papalag kami kung may violation. Wala namang violation,” Tulfo stressed.

(Why would you fight back, sir? Did the prosecution violate the Constitution? I don’t think so… We probably would have retaliated if there was a violation, but there’s none.)

Though he admitted being surprised, Tulfo also noted that the dropping of most of the charges simply part of the prosecution’s strategy, and the defense may pull tactics of their own during their presentation.

“Strategy ng prosecution yun ‘di ba? Gawa din sila ng strategy when it’s their turn, di ba… Kaniya-kaniyang diskarte yon… Medyo nagulat din ako… Pero kung yun ang diskarte ng prosecution, then ano pa bang pipilitin ho natin? Kami ay mga senator judges lang,” he added.

(That’s the prosecution’s strategy, isn’t it? They can do a strategy, too when it’s their turn… To each their own… I kind of got shocked too… But if that’s the prosecution’s strategy, then what can we force? We’re just senator-judges.)

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said it is simply their job, rejecting Panelo’s claim that time had been wasted.

“Trabaho namin ito eh. Ang trabaho namin to make public servants accountable. So hindi naman sayang oras namin kung ginagawa namin ang trabaho,” Gatchalian told the media.

(This is our job. Part of the job is to make public servants accountable. So no time was wasted since we were doing our job.) /mr