Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville Luistro has justified the House prosecution team’s plan to issue a subpoena demanding Vice President Sara Duterte’s testimony in her ongoing impeachment trial.
The lead prosecutor disclosed the panel’s intent on Tuesday, September 8, marking the 23rd day of the trial before the Senate impeachment court.
Luistro asserted that the public deserves to hear the Vice President directly address the allegations detailed across the four articles of impeachment filed against her.
“The Filipino people, your honor, have the right to hear the answer of the respondent vice president to all these four allegations under the articles of impeachment,” Luistro said.
The announcement follows a notice from private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan to Senator and presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero, stating that a subpoena would be sought once the prosecution concludes presenting its full body of evidence.
Defending the strategy against pushback from Duterte’s defense counsel, Luistro argued that compelling the Vice President to take the stand aligns with constitutional principles of open governance.
“The position of the prosecution about calling the respondent Vice President as witness for the four articles of impeachment at the end of the presentation of all these articles is in line with the mandate of transparency and accountability, your honor, which is enshrined in our Constitution,” she said.
The lawmaker emphasized that direct testimony would allow both the senator-judges and the public to evaluate Duterte’s defense in real time.
“It is important that the impeachment court, including the viewing public, witness how the respondent vice president answered to all these allegations because this is the spirit behind the provision of the Constitution on transparency and accountability, your honor,” the lawmaker said.
Addressing concerns raised by the defense regarding the Vice President’s constitutional rights, Luistro maintained that the public’s rights must also be protected in the trial.
“We wish to invoke as well that even the Filipino people whom we represent are entitled to these constitutional rights,” she said.