MANILA, Philippines — The House prosecution panel on Friday countered Vice President Sara Duterte’s statements in her answer ad cautelam (with caution), saying that she made “several misleading and false material statements” in her pleading.
This document serves as the prosecution’s official response to Duterte’s answer ad cautelam, which she filed on June 23.
The country’s second top leader sought the against her, calling it “void ab initio” or invalid from the outset.
But the reply from the prosecution team directly confronted each of Duterte’s arguments, describing her legal tactics as a transparent attempt to delay or dismiss the proceedings rather than answer the charges.
“Rule VII of the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials provides that the prosecutors may Reply within a non-extendible period of five days from receipt of the Answer Ad Cautelam,” it noted.
“This Reply is timely filed. At the onset, it must be pointed out that in the , respondent Duterte had made several misleading and false material statements,” the House prosecutors told the impeachment court.
Among the arguments countered by the prosecution team was Duterte’s earlier claim that the impeachment violated the “one-year bar rule” which prohibits the filing of multiple impeachment proceedings against the same official within one year.
In the reply sent to the impeachment court, prosecutors explained that the verified complaint signed by one-third of the House members was filed on February 5, 2025,...
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