IN WHAT looks more like a retalliation, a visibly pissed off Vice President Sara Duterte took a swipe at the members of the Senate impeachment court and the House prosecution panel for resorting to name-calling and insults rather than hard evidence required to secure her conviction.
In a statement, Duterte accused the House prosecution panel and members of Congress of legitimizing theatrics during the impeachment trial by “desperately trying to turn something they wish to be true into a wild story of alleged wrongdoing.”
“A strong case does not need the adornment of theatrics. A senator calling a witness ‘stupid,’ a lawyer calling me the ‘mastermind of a scam’ or another witness referring to me as a ‘brat’ does not prove a case, nor does it produce evidence,” Duterte said.
Without naming names, the vice president was apparently referring to Senator-Judge Raffy Tulfo who called witness OVP Special Disbursing Officer Gina Acosta “stupid,” and private prosecutor Mae Divinagracia who categorically branded her [Duterte] as the “architect and mastermind” behind the alleged misuse and shifting justifications of the confidential funds.
“Insults reveal the need to feign confidence in the face of a weak presentation,” she added.
Impeachment court presiding officer Senator-Judge Francis Escudero on Tuesday ruled to strike off the record the words “scam” and “mastermind,” which Divinagracia used in her direct examination of the Office of the Vice President Asec. Lemuel Ortonio.
Previously, Escudero also warned both the prosecution and defense panel, as well as senator-judges, against speaking on the merits of the impeachment case against Duterte.