Prosecution rebuffs claim Luistro was ‘eaten alive’ in impeachment pre-trial

MANILA, Philippines – The prosecution team refuted claims that lead trial prosecutor Jinky Luistro was outgunned by Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team during the first day of impeachment pre-trial proceedings.

“That is not true. I charge it as ‘fake news,’ and people should become very cautious now in watching it on social media. We should be careful in deciphering what is correct and what is false… I will not let the Filipinos’ fight be eaten alive,” Luistro said in a mix of English and Filipino on Monday, June 22.

Newly appointed prosecution legal spokesperson Benjamin Tolosa pointed out that it was “factually impossible” for Duterte’s lawyers to get an upper hand on Luistro in the context of a pre-impeachment conference.

“To say that you got an upper hand, it should mean that you were able to get favorable rulings on your part, but that’s impossible. Why? Because the clerk of the impeachment court cannot even make any rulings,” Tolosa explained.

Tolosa said the prosecution team achieved their goal of “ensuring that the trial would proceed in an expeditious manner.” 

He referred to Luistro’s supposed shutdown of the defense’s attempt to raise the issue of lowering the conviction threshold during the pre-impeachment trial. 

Luistro previously floated the idea of reducing the number of required votes to convict Vice President Duterte, saying that Senator Bato dela Rosa and Senator Jinggoy Estrada are beyond the coercive means of the Senate. 

“That’s not a matter that could be decided by the clerk of court and should not be used to delay the pre-trial conference,” Tolosa said. 

Politiko reported on June 19 that Duterte’s lead counsel, Sheila Sison, “dominated” the first day of the pre-trial proceedings and “outmaneuvered” a prosecution team that was “unprepared for the defense’s arguments.”  

“We are not struggling. We are very much prepared,” Luistro said. 

“Our refusal to comment on the manifestations of the defense doesn’t mean that we are not prepared. We simply maintained our position that those issues are not proper for PTC and therefore we must confine ourselves to the agenda of the pre-trial conference,” she added. 

“We can expect more of disinformation, more of fake news, more of  factual distortion, spins of the real stories of the things that happened as the proceedings progress, especially when we get to the trial proper,” House prosecutor Leila de Lima also said. 

The prosecution team expects the pre-trial proceedings to conclude by the end of Monday. It is also certain that the full trial proper will proceed as scheduled on July 6.

Luistro, however, sees the trial extending beyond September. She earlier estimated the trial to be finished by the end of that month.

Tolosa said the prosecution asked for 62 trial dates, while the defense only sought 30. – Rappler.com

Isabel Victorino is a fourth year AB Communication student at Ateneo de Manila University and a writer for its school publication The GUIDON. She is currently a Rappler intern.