Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong has no expectations about Duterte family supporters admitting that there is strong evidence presented against Vice President Sara Duterte during her impeachment trial, saying that these people have their own echo chamber and are living in a parallel universe.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Alonto Adiong and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon were asked about the insistence of Diehard Duterte Supporters – or the so-called DDS – that there is no smoking gun that would point towards Duterte committing an impeachable offense.
Alonto Adiong disagreed, reiterating previous statements from lawmakers supportive of Duterte’s impeachment that it is no longer a mere smoking gun, but a cannon’s worth of evidence.
‘If the Filipino people are seeing a cannon already, then what is this smoking gun that they are talking about? I think the DDS supporters, we don’t expect anything from them as far as appreciating the evidence and the testimony of the witnesses,’ Alonto Adiong, a spokesperson for the prosecution panel, said.
‘Because we can see from the trajectory of the supporters’ discussions, they really have an echo chamber, they have a parallel reality and they are the only ones talking and are able to understand each other,’ he added.
According to him, more Filipinos know the truth – that there is already compelling evidence against Duterte.
‘But a larger Filipino society knows that there is really compelling evidence, it’s like the prosecution panel was able to show and provide sufficient reason to state that there is betrayal of public trust since they cannot explain how public funds were used and the accountability that should be extracted from Vice President Sara Duterte,’ Alonto Adiong added.
As early as April 28, Ridon already said that the evidence that was gathered by the House of Representatives’ committee on justice no longer indicate a smoking gun, but a nuclear bomb already.
Ridon predicted that the ‘nuclear bomb’ will result to majority of committee on justice members and lawmakers voting in favor of the impeachment complaints. The lawmaker’s prediction eventually became true as last May 11, 257 lawmakers voted in favor of adopting House Resolution No. 989, which contains the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte.
Earlier, during the same press briefing, Ridon urged Duterte supporters to unmute the video when they are watching the impeachment trial so that they can hear the evidence and testimonies from witnesses presented by the prosecution.
‘Maybe the videos being watched by Duterte supporters are muted, you need to open that, to unmute the video so that you can hear the details,’ Ridon said.
‘Because a lot of evidence has been mentioned. I won’t say that the evidence weighs a lot or does not weigh a lot because that goes into the sub judice restriction but my advice to them is, my friend, unmute the video,’ he added.
So far, the prosecution has finished presenting evidence and witnesses for Article IV, or the allegation that Duterte betrayed public trust when she threatened President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his relatives. The panel is still presenting evidence for Article I or the alleged confidential fund (CF) misuse within Duterte’s office, but prosecutors say that they may wrap up by September 9.
For Article I, a total of 10 witnesses have been presented by the prosecution team. On Wednesday, the panel presented former Education Undersecretary Michael Poa, who also happens to be a member of the defense panel.
Prior to Poa, the prosecution panel presented two Land Bank of the Philippines officials from which the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and DepEd withdrew their CFs; state auditors who checked on the confidential expenditures made by Duterte’s offices; OVP staffers like former special disbursing officer Gina Acosta; and on Tuesday, two Philippine Army (PA) officials.
The meat of Acosta’s testimony focused on her decision to transfer the CFs under the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to former Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) head Col. Raymund Dante Lachica upon orders from Duterte.
On Tuesday, Army Col. Maranos Boransing II and Army Col. Magtanggol Panopio testified that none of Duterte’s offices – whether it be the Department of Education, OVP, or even the VPSPG – placed any of its regular allocations or CFs to two young training programs which were funded by the Philippine Army.
During the trial, Panopio also admitted being shocked that DepEd under Duterte used his certification on the existence and conduct of the Army-funded Youth Leadership Summit just so the department can justify its confidential expenses.