Palace leaves prosecution to decide on bribery allegations vs Sara Duterte

Malacañang on Sunday said it would leave it to the House prosecution team to decide whether to drop the bribery allegations against Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment case, but warned that doing so could leave Filipinos without answers.

“Nasa pagpapasya po iyan ng prosecution. Kung sa tingin nila ay iyan ang tamang strategy sa paghahain ng mga testigo. Ngunit isinama nila iyan sa Articles of Impeachment, na ang ibig sabihin nito ay may sapat silang ebidensya para talakayin itong isyung bribery sa impeachment court,” Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said.

(That is up to the prosecution to decide. If they believe that is the right strategy in presenting their witnesses. But they included it in the Articles of Impeachment, which means they have sufficient evidence to raise the bribery issue before the impeachment court.)

Castro, however, reminded the prosecution that dropping the bribery allegations could deprive Filipinos of the opportunity to know the full truth about the matter.

“Kung aatras sila sa akusasyong bribery laban sa Bise Presidente, hindi ba nila nasi-shortchange o nadedehado ang mga Filipino na nais sanang malaman ang buong katotohanan rito? Muli, nasa kanila po ang pagpapasya rito,” she added.

(If they withdraw the bribery allegations against the Vice President, wouldn’t they be shortchanging or disadvantaging Filipinos who want to know the full truth about the matter? Again, the decision is up to them.)

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, House prosecution spokesperson and Lanao del Sur 1st District Representative Zia Alonto Adiong said the prosecution team was likely to drop the bribery allegations against Duterte.

“Mukhang ang direction is hindi na siya ita-tackle. Maybe that's the direction, pero hindi pa natin pina-finalize 'yan kasi ongoing pa rin ang discussion sa prosecution panel kung anong magiging susunod na hakbang pagkatapos ng Article 2,” Adiong told Super Radyo dzBB.

(It appears that it will no longer be tackled. That may be the direction, but we have not finalized it yet because discussions are still ongoing among the prosecution panel on what the next steps will be after Article 2.)

Asked whether the possible decision was because the first three impeachment articles were already strong enough to convict Duterte, Adiong said this was the case.

The Senate Impeachment Court is currently hearing Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment, which accuses Duterte of unexplained wealth.

Article 3, meanwhile, accuses the Vice President of bribing officials of the Department of Education during her stint as DepEd secretary from 2022 to 2024.— MCG, GMA News

Follow GMA News Online on Facebook for real-time news and developments in the Philippines and around the world.