Impeachment trial, criminal case different from each other — Castro

Amid claims that Vice President Sara Duterte cannot be prosecuted for grave threats while her impeachment trial is ongoing, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro on Wednesday said that a criminal case and an impeachment case are different from each other.

“Magkaiba po kasi ang criminal case, magkaiba din po ang impeachment. Iba po ang nature ng dalawa,” Castro said on Super Radyo dzBB.

(Criminal cases are different, and impeachment is also different. The nature of the two is different.)

Castro was asked if a case may be filed against an impeachable official before a trial court while an impeachment trial is already ongoing.

This came after the Department of Justice filed grave threats charges against Duterte before a Quezon City court on Tuesday over her remarks that she hired a person to kill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and others if she dies.

Duterte’s camp, however, said she cannot be prosecuted while her impeachment trial is ongoing.

Castro, meanwhile, said she personally believes that the charge filed was "not enough."

“Actually kulang pa nga ‘yan. Ako, ha, as an ordinary citizen, as a lawyer, feeling ko kulang pa nga ‘yung kaso na ‘yan,” she said.

(Actually, that’s still not enough. As an ordinary citizen and as a lawyer, I feel that the case is still lacking.)

“Hindi lang ‘yan grave threats, kasi sowing hatred talaga. The whole video. Sowing hatred against the President, against the First Lady,” she added.

(It’s not just grave threats because it is really sowing hatred. The whole video was sowing hatred against the President and the First Lady.)

She also said that the Vice President is not immune from suit.

“Wala siyang immunity from suit, so pwede siyang sampahan ng kaso. So, dapat noon pa nga,” she said.

(She has no immunity from suit, so a case can be filed against her. So, it should have been done even earlier.)

Castro also said that the filing of charges against Duterte should not be blamed on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“Kasi ginawa niya ‘yan. Totoo namang nakita natin,” she said.

(Because she did that. It is true that we saw it.)

Duterte's lawyer, Atty. Paul Lawrence Lim has said that they will "exercise all available legal remedies in due course.” —Joahna Lei Casilao/ VAL, GMA News