MANILA, Philippines — The petition filed by Vice President Sara Duterte seeking to stop impeachment proceedings against her should be junked by the Supreme Court (SC) due to fraudulent claims, Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said on Wednesday.
Ridon, in an ambush interview at the Batasang Pambansa complex, said that Duterte’s lawyers are lying when they claim that, under the rules on preliminary investigation of criminal cases, prosecutors cannot add evidence to bolster a case.
The lawmaker stressed that prosecutors can issue subpoenas to clarify the evidence and the charges alleged against an individual, which is also the case for the House of Representatives’ committee on justice when it summoned certain documents and personalities to attend the hearing.
“This is just an attempt from the Vice President’s lawyers to mislead the people, after they claimed that under preliminary investigation conducted by the prosecutor, they cannot add documents and evidence. That’s not true,” Ridon, a lawyer by profession, explained.
“I reviewed the rules again because I might be gaslighted, but it is clearly stated there that prosecutors can issue a subpoena ad testificandum duces tecum to clarify the matters of the case. So it is not true that even at the preliminary investigation stage, the prosecution has no power to seek additional evidence and documents,” he added.
This, Ridon said, should prompt the SC to junk the petition “on the basis of fraud.”
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