MANILA — House prosecutors want the public to see and understand the evidence in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, whether that is done in sequence or by alternating with the defence panel, lead House prosecutor and Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro said.
Luistro was responding to the possibility that the Senate impeachment court might change the order in which evidence is presented for each article of impeachment against the vice president. Either approach carries advantages and disadvantages, she told reporters on Monday, but the prosecution team’s priority is for the people to understand the evidence being laid out. Senator-judges and the public alike, she said, should be able to see the evidence each side presents and weigh it. The prosecution panel, she added, will file its official position on the order of presentation with the impeachment court.
Luistro, who attended President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address, said she hoped he would touch on employment and calamity resilience in his speech before the joint session of Congress, and that she was anticipating updates on the administration’s fight against corruption. Marcos, she noted, has made accountability a priority. “Please understand that the impeachment trial is part of the accountability mechanism, which is installed in the constitution,” she said.
‘We Are Not Racist, Not Liars’: Marcos Says PH ‘Won’t Abandon’ Arbitral Award
MANILA — Filipinos are neither racist nor liars, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Monday, following renewed maritime tension with China, which has rejected a 2016 arbitral award that invalidated its claims over the West Philippine Sea.
“Our unity and collective consciousness are challenged now greater than ever before. A common threat lies before us, directed against our dignity and self-respect as a people. Of late, our very humanity has been called into question,” Marcos said in his fifth State of the Nation Address. “Let me remind our friends and our detractors: Filipinos are a noble, kind, gracious, and great race. We are not greedy. We are not racists. We are not liars. We are respectful, and we are dignified. We are Filipinos, and we do not yield.”
The remarks followed a week of heightened friction. Philippine and Chinese sailors clashed at Ayungin Shoal in the first serious seaborne encounter in months, with Manila saying China Coast Guard personnel had assaulted Filipino sailors near a beached vessel that serves as a garrison on the disputed shoal. In the same month, Manila lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing over a “racist” video posted by Chinese state media that portrayed the Philippines as a cartoon monkey.
Marcos said the “final and binding” arbitral award, which recently marked its 10th year, “stands as a definitive benchmark for the interpretation and application of the UNCLOS.” He stressed that the Philippines would not back down. “This is not a claim that we advance alone, nor is it one that we will abandon,” he said. “Your government will do all that is necessary to continue upholding this Award, utilizing every peaceful and legal means available to the Republic against any attempt, foreign or domestic, to undermine this achievement.”
The President thanked the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the country’s fisherfolk for continuing to protect its seas despite the risks. “To them we owe collective gratitude and appreciation for they give life to the letter and spirit of the Arbitral Award,” he said.
