House prosecutors won't reply to Sara Duterte's answer to Articles of Impeachment

Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro, the lead prosecutor in the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, on Thursday said the House prosecution panel will not be filing a reply to Duterte’s answer to the Articles of Impeachment.

In an online interview, Luistro said they will be filing a manifestation instead.

"Well, our position is not to file a reply because we believe na (that) they did not dispute any allegation of facts doon sa (in the) Articles of Impeachment. Nevertheless, we will be filing a manifestation, hopefully today or tomorrow, upang ipaliwanag ang aming (to explain our) position why we opted not to file a reply,” Luistro said.

She said the manifestation has been prepared already and awaiting the signature of the House prosecution panel members.

“And then after that, we will be filing this with the impeachment court. And we’ll be filing it with the impeachment court and furnish copy of the same to the respondent Vice President,” said the House justice committee chairperson.

On Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian issued an advisory that there will be no official business in the Senate today, June 4, 2026.

Luistro said they will check if there are Senate staff who can receive their manifestation.

“So kung walang magre-receive eh baka kahit hanggang (If there’s no one who will receive it, maybe until) Monday. Because we are given naman until Monday to file our reply. Nonetheless, this is not a reply. We are not filing a reply. We are filing a manifestation instead, which contains our position while we opted not to file a reply,” she said.

For his part, Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, a member of the House prosecution panel, assured that they are ready for the trial amid recent developments in the Senate leadership.

‘Irrespective of who the Senate leadership is, tuloy po yung trial (the trial will continue). So we will leave it to the Senators to resolve it as to who the presiding officer will be when the Senate impeachment trial is reconvened,” Ridon said in an ambush interview on Thursday.

“We are fully focused on proceeding with the impeachment trial even through the sine die situation that we have. Tuloy-tuloy pa rin po yung paghahanda ng prosecution panel (The prosecution panel’s preparations are ongoing), the mock trials are continuing, ‘yung pagpipinal ng mga affidavits at iba pong submissions ay ginagawa po namin (the finalization of the affidavits and the other submissions),” he added.

During the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s resumption of the flood control mess probe on Thursday, some members of the House prosecution panel were mentioned by the 18 supposed former members of the Philippine Marines.

The ex-Marines alleged that some of the House impeachment prosecutors, along with other personalities including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., received suitcases of money.

The House prosecutors however said this will not deter them from presenting evidence at the impeachment trial.

“Mariin ko pong pinabubulaanan ang mga paratang ng mga umano’y 18 ex-Marines. Sa katunayan, nagsampa po ako ng kasong libel bago pa ito. Malinaw po na ang tanging layunin lamang ng mga pahayag na ito ay sirain ang aking kredibilidad. Magkaganun pa man, magpapatuloy po ang paghahanda ng 11 public prosecutors sa gaganaping impeachment trial,” Luistro said in a statement.

(I deny the accusations of the alleged 18-ex Marines. In fact, I filed a libel case prior to this. It is clear that the intention of these statements is to destroy my credibility. Despite this, the 11 public prosecutors will continue preparations for the impeachment trial.)

For his part, Ridon said the ex-Marines’ allegations are mere lies and that there were no suitcases of cash delivered to him.

“Pero kailangan din po natin linawin at tandaan, magsisimula na po impeachment trial. Wala pong kasinunalingan, wala pong mga gagawa-gawang testimonya katulad ng nangyari ngayon sa Senado ‘yung makakapigil sa House prosecution panel na maglahad ng katotohanan sa paglilitis po ng Pangalawang Pangulo,” he said.

(But we have to clarify and remember, the impeachment trial is about to start. No lies, no made-up testimony like what happened in the Senate will stop the House prosecution panel from revealing the truth in the trial of the Vice President.)

Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua, a member of the House prosecution panel, also denied allegations that he received suitcases of cash.

“Kitang-kita na yung pagsisinungaling sa kanila. Dahil doon sa unang affidavit na kanilang sinumite, according to them, binigyan daw ako ng maleta doon sa HOR. Pero ngayon, sinasabi naman nila, binigyan daw ako sa townhouse. So dito, kitang-kita na yung pagsisinungaling nila. Magkaibang venue na yung sinasabi nila. Siguro nalito na sila dahil sa kanilang mga kasinungalingan,” Chua said in a phone interview.

(Their lies are so obvious. In the first affidavit that they submitted, according to them, I got the suitcases at the House of Representatives. But now they are saying, they gave it to me at the townhouse. So you can see how they lie. They are talking about different venues. Maybe they got confused about the lies they are telling.)

Chua said the ex-Marines are attempting to discredit the House prosecution panel.

“Pero hindi po ito magpipigil sa amin para gampanan ang aming constitutional duty (But this will not stop us from performing our constitutional duty,” he said, adding that he filed a cyberlibel case against the 18 ex-Marines in April.

Meanwhile, ML Partylist Rep. Leila de Lima, another House prosecutor, said she already responded to those “blatant lies” and filed libel and cyberlibel raps against the ex-Marines before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ).

“Uulitin ko: Whether sa maleta, sa paper bag o ano man yan, wala akong tinatanggap na pera. Hindi na rin nakapagtataka na nagkakabuhol-buhol ang kwento at paratang sa akin dahil imbento lang ang mga pinagsasabi nila – kasinungalingan na inulit lang sa isang kwestyonableng hearing sa Senado,” de Lima added.

(I repeat: Whether it’s in a suitcase, paper bag, or whatever, I never accepted any money. It’s no surprise that stories and accusations against me get tangled, because they only invented what they are saying – lies repeated in a questionable hearing at the Senate.) — JMA, GMA News