MANILA, Philippines — Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Friday vented his frustration at Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero over his rigid management of the ongoing impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Speaking at a press conference at Club Filipino in San Juan City, Trillanes criticized Escudero’s restrictive trial guidelines, a day after his name was officially withdrawn from the House prosecution panel’s witness list for Article II.
Trillanes was originally slated to testify regarding the alleged unexplained wealth of the Vice President and her family, including former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville Luistro, the prosecution’s lead counsel, informed the impeachment court on Thursday that they would no longer call Trillanes to the stand. Trillanes later explained he personally requested his removal to relieve the prosecution from mounting external pressure.
However, the former lawmaker questioned Escudero’s decision to issue subpoenas to every listed prosecution witness except him, even though he was physically present at the Senate and prepared to testify.
“My name was there last week. Dumating yung mga subpoena, ako lang yung wala,” Trillanes said.
“Meron bang ganyang power yung Impeachment Court? May power ba yung Presiding Officer, huwag muna ito. Ganito… yun ang tanong. They don’t have that power,” he added.
“Kasi diskarte ng prosecution ito eh. Do not second guess ano ite-testify niyan, pakinggan mo muna. Di ba?”
Despite his frustration, Trillanes maintained that his main priority remains securing a conviction.
“But just as I said, at the proper time we will deal with this people. Pero not at this time, kasi focus tayo sa mission natin. Let’s get that conviction done,” he stressed.
Addressing public complaints about the proceedings, Trillanes argued that the public should not blame the House prosecution panel if the hearings feel dull, pointing the finger squarely at the presiding officer’s approach.
“Yung mga senator-judges nakikita niyo nakaupo lang, isa lang naman eh. Yung presiding officer lang naman yung nagti-timon. So kung boring yung impeachment trial it’s the fault entirely of the presiding officer,” Trillanes noted.
He further argued that Escudero is mistakenly treating the impeachment proceeding as a traditional criminal trial rather than a unique political process meant to uncover the truth.
“Kapag trinato mo itong parang criminal court, ganyan ang mangyayari dun. Kasi I’ve been to more than 30 cases na hinarap ko nakita ko yan, it can be boring talaga. So ganun yun. Hindi nga yun ang intention, dapat hinahanap nila yung katotohanan,” he said.
“Kaya nga I was pushing noon si Sen. Sherwin (Gatchalian) na lang ang mag-preside para layman yung mindset niya. Kaso kailangan ipilit na kelangan daw abogado,” he added.
“Hindi, hindi kailangan ng abogado dito. Kailangan dito may bukas na pag iisip na kailangan hanapin yung katotohanan. Ganun lang po yun,” Trillanes concluded.