Tolosa says trial remarks made ‘already on public record’

MANILA, Philippines — Counsel and spokesperson for the prosecution panel Atty. Benjamin Tolosa said that the statements he made regarding Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial flagged by the Senate impeachment court were already public record.

This is in response to the impeachment court-issued show-cause order (SCO) dated Sept. 16 wherein the court flagged five public statements that Tolosa made during the House prosecution panel’s Sept. 8 press conference that may have violated the sub judice rule.

“None of the challenged statements falls within the prohibition under Rule XVIII. Some concerned only procedural matters and did not evaluate merits of the case. The others merely recounted matters already placed on the public record during the proceedings,” Tolosa said in his response on Thursday.

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He continued, noting that his statements were made “fairly and accurately, in good faith, and without editorial comment,” thereby not violating the sub judice rule.

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READ: Sub judice rule: Ridon, Tolosa given show-cause orders by impeach court

During the press conference, supposedly Tolosa made remarks on the trial particularly on the sufficiency of evidence, disputed facts, evidence and the defenses, and matters that have not yet been resolved before the court, prohibited in the impeachment rules.

Among these statements are Tolosa’s remarks characterizing the prosecution’s evidence as “enough” and “already pointing to the vice president,” after it withdrew several witnesses for Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.

Tolosa clarified that his remarks “merely explained the Prosecution’s decision… after meeting its own evidentiary objectives.”

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He added that the quotes flagged by the court were taken out of context, saying that at the end of his response in the press conference, he “expressly recognized that whether the evidence would be sufficient to support a conviction remained exclusively for the Senator-judges to determine.”

As for his statements on disputed facts, particularly when he mentioned that Duterte’s use of confidential funds “clearly violated” the Commission on Audit’s rules, Tolosa stressed that he only “recounted” discussions made during the trial.

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In addition, Tolosa asserted that he attributed such statements to those who made them.

With these, Tolosa hoped that the court would find that he did not violate the impeachment rules, and forgo the imposition of any sanction against the lawyer.

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The court previously ruled that those who violate the sub judice rule would face a P30,000 monetary fine with possible restrictions on speaking, objecting or examining witnesses on the floor on subsequent violations. /mr