The arithmetic of an impeachment conviction is unforgiving: 16 senator-judges must vote yes, and nothing less will do. Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon says the House prosecution panel already knows it has them.
Speaking at the Saturday News Forum on June 6 at Dapo Restaurant in Quezon City, the lawyer-solon insisted that the panel’s certainty rests on the case files rather than on any tally of allies inside a turbulent upper chamber.
“Our confidence on convicting the Vice President is not based on the numbers of the Senate or the leadership of the Senate. Our confidence on convicting the Vice President is based on the evidence itself,” Ridon said.
That distinction matters because the Senate has churned through two Senate Presidents and an acting Senate President over roughly three weeks. Ridon, a member of the prosecution panel, argued that none of the leadership turnover changes the math the prosecutors expect to produce.
“So pagpalit man o hindi, we’re certain that we will be able to muster the numbers to convict the Vice President. We will get to 16, irrespective of who the leadership was or who the leadership is,” he said.
He grounded that prediction in what he described as a strong body of documentary, financial, and testimonial material, pointing specifically to records the senator-judges will eventually examine in open trial. “So on the AMLA reports, on the NBI reports, on each and every piece of evidence that is there for the senator-judges to see during trial proper,” he said. Ridon added that he expects senators on both sides of the chamber’s current divide to be won over once that evidence is laid out.
The confidence comes as the panel enters the closing stretch of its preparations. Ridon said evidence, documents, and witnesses are all being finalized ahead of the pre-trial conference set for June 15, with the trial itself scheduled to open on July 6 under the timetable fixed by the Senate impeachment court.
“So naghahanda po kami towards pre-trial, lahat po ng mga ebidensya ay pinipinal, lahat po ng mga dokumento ay pinipinal, lahat po ng mga witnesses ay mapipinal po para pagka nagkaroon po ng pre-trial conference kasama po ng Senate impeachment court at ng kabilang panig ay handang-handa na po ang prosecution panel,” he said.
To sharpen that presentation, prosecutors and volunteer private lawyers have been running mock trials built around each article of impeachment, rehearsing how the evidence and witness testimony will be put before the court.
The case against Vice President Duterte centers on the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds, untruthful entries in her statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth, unexplained wealth, and death threats against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. To support those charges, the panel has said it will rely on Anti-Money Laundering Council reports, government investigation findings, and other financial and testimonial records.
One procedural decision has already been made. The panel will not file a formal reply to the Vice President’s answer, which the prosecutors contend sidestepped the substance of the charges, and will instead enter only a manifestation before the court.
“Minarapat din po ng House prosecution panel na hindi po mag-submit ng formal reply doon sa answer, non-answer ng ating pong Pangalawang Pangulo,” Ridon said.
