Prosecutors call for accountability as trial opens
Prosecutors opened the trial by arguing that no public official is above accountability. House Representative Gerville Luistro of Batangas, speaking for the prosecution, said, “If a small village treasurer can’t explain missing funds, he is investigated. If a school principal squanders public funds, even just 5,000 pesos, she is punished. If ordinary people are held to account, why not the most powerful government official?”
The House of Representatives voted 257 to 33 in May to impeach Duterte over allegations that she misused public funds as vice president and accumulated wealth after becoming mayor of Davao in 2019.
Duterte’s legal team rejected the charges as a political maneuver. Lawyer Sheila Sison told the court that lawmakers are targeting the vice president because she received 32.2 million votes in the 2022 presidential election, more than Marcos, who won with 31.6 million. “It is clear that the objective is to oust her,” Sison said. “Whatever one’s political persuasion is, the reality is that the prosecution now comes for this court to remove a vice president chosen by an overwhelming number of the electorate.”
Escudero ordered the return of Duterte’s tax records to the Bureau of Internal Revenue following opening statements.
Duterte did not appear in the courtroom. In a statement posted on Facebook, she described her absence and decision not to testify as a “legal strategy.” She criticized Marcos for speaking against that decision while he was on a trip to Canada. “The burden remains on the prosecution to prove its case,” she wrote. “Choosing to appear through counsel rather than testify personally does not diminish accountability or imply a lack of transparency. The integrity of an impeachment trial depends on adherence to the rule of law — not on whether the respondent personally takes the stand.”
Marcos, speaking to reporters in Vancouver, said he would appear in person if he were facing an impeachment trial.
This is the second time lawmakers have moved to impeach Duterte as vice president. In 2024, the House voted to impeach her after she claimed to have arranged for Marcos to be killed if she were killed. The Supreme Court blocked that effort.