While they are concerned over the spread of wrong information – particularly regarding the spliced video uploaded on Sen. Pia Cayetano’s social media accounts – the prosecution panel for the impeachment trial would neither make a manifestation nor seek for her inhibition.
In a press briefing, lawyer Benjamin Tolosa Jr. admitted that they are worried that the video uploaded on Cayetano’s Facebook page, showing spliced portions of Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno’s manifestations during the oral arguments on the request for a subpoena on Vice President Sara Duterte’s bank and tax records, may cause confusion to the public.
Diokno, one of the 11-person House of Representatives prosecution team for Duterte’s impeachment trial, was able to secure a win as he convinced the Senate Impeachment Court of a need to summon the vice president’s bank and tax records.
However, Cayetano posted a video that made it seem like Diokno admitted that the prosecution had no evidence, and was doing a fishing expedition.
‘This is concerning not only because the people may have a wrong impression regarding what really happened in the oral arguments, and what was the prosecution’s stand through Cong. Chel Diokno. But the bigger concern is that this might give an impression […] that members of the impeachment court have prejudged the matter,’ Tolosa, a counsel for the prosecution, said on Wednesday.
‘Because we can see here, aside from editing the exchange during the oral arguments, the video has a text overlay na stating ‘there is no evidence, they are just taking a chance’ and then a question (mark) […] it accuses, something to that effect, which is very concerning because people may thing that there is prejudgment,’ he added.
Tolosa also said that it could send a wrong message that prosecutors are no longer impartial, when the rules on impeachment clearly ask them to do so. However, the lawyer said that they will not put any senator-judge on the spot.
‘And it could also lead to a perception of partiality when this is very dangerous, because it could erode the people’s confidence and trust in our institutions. And no less than this Senate Impeachment Court – which is a constitutional institution, which is meant to ensure accountability with respect to the highest officials of the land,’ he said.
‘So that’s concerning, but we want to clarify, we don’t want to put any specific member of the impeachment court on the spot, we don’t want to call them out and we don’t want to ascribe any negative intentions on the part of anyone,’ he added.
Tolosa clarified that they would not ask senator-judges to voluntarily inhibit themselves.
‘No we’re not asking anyone to voluntarily inhibit themselves. Again, we don’t want to focus on personalities, this is just a concern, not a way to put anyone on the spot or say that someone has negative intentions,’ he said.
‘That’s not it, as I said earlier, because there may be a valid explanation for this, it can be a clerical error, maybe the social media handlers are the ones wrong, so let’s give them the benefit of the doubt,’ he added.
The post that Tolosa was referring to was made by Cayetano on July 24, showing discussions between her brother, Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano, and Diokno during the impeachment trial.
The video started out with Diokno saying that ‘we’re taking a chance that we may find evidence’ which was immediately followed by Alan asking what may be obtained from the bank documents.
However, these statements from Diokno were made while he was explaining what a fishing expedition is – gathering documents in hopes of finding incriminating evidence – which he said is not what the prosecution panel is doing.
In a separate social media post, Diokno clarified that they are not engaged in a fishing expedition since the documents that they asked a subpoena for were specific, and were identified even before the impeachment trial.
‘Probable cause was established in Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) records showing billions that passed through the accounts of the vice president and her spouse. We sought the bank records to verify whether they match the AMLC reports,’ he said last July 26.
Pia has been criticized on social media over her actions. On Wednesday, a group composed of women’s rights advocates, student leaders and civil society groups filed a complaint against her before the Senate ethics committee, over the spliced video she posted online.
In a letter, the complainants asked the panel to ‘conduct an inquiry into the public actions’ of Cayetano regarding her ‘deliberate dissemination of a spliced and misleading video on her Facebook page.’
The deliberate editing of official impeachment proceedings to mislead the public is not merely a political act, it is a serious ethical issue that strikes at the integrity of the Senate as an impeachment court,’ they said in a separate statement.