Manifestation only, not reply, on VP impeach raps answer

MANILA, Philippines — The House impeachment prosecution team will not file a reply, only a manifestation, to the answer of Vice President Sara Duterte to the Articles of Impeachment against her.

This is because the Vice President, in her answer, did not address the charges leveled against her, prosecutor Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon explained.

“The House prosecution panel will submit a manifestation because, as we see it, no answers were given whatsoever. Our Vice President had no answers, point per point, on the Articles of Impeachment given to her,” he said in Filipino in the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.

The prosecution panel earlier tagged Duterte’s filing as a “non-answer” since it only repeated procedural objections instead of giving direct responses and counter-evidence to the allegations.

Ridon also rejected the possibility of two separate impeachment trials arising from the Senate leadership dispute.

“We think that won’t happen – that there will be separate trials – because there is only one group when it convenes. The first is the plenary, second is the Senate impeachment court,” he said.

Ridon identified the group able to convene the chamber and the impeachment court as the one led by Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian, saying this group only has the count needed to open the proceedings.

“It’s his (Gatchalian’s) group that can open, because they have the numbers to convene the Senate impeachment court,” he explained.

According to the member of the 11-man team, the panel is currently preparing for the impeachment trial of Duterte, with pre-trial proceedings expected in mid-June and the formal trial set to begin on July 6.