Facing a wave of online criticism, Senators Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano turned to a Saturday night Facebook Live broadcast to argue that their insistence on procedure during Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial comes down to a single principle: fairness cannot exist without rules.
Alan, who serves as minority floor leader, framed the dispute over the prosecution’s evidence-gathering as a matter of legal limits. A senator-judge, he argued, cannot simply order the release of someone’s tax, banking, and Anti-Money Laundering Council records on a personal whim — a jab at what he characterized as the House prosecution’s approach. “My point is, pag may rules, protection natin lahat yan,” he said.
His sister reached for an analogy from the court, though of the hardwood variety. “Pag makailang foul ka… out ka. May rules. There are always rules,” Pia said.
The broadcast landed at the end of a contentious sixth trial day centered on the prosecution’s motion to compel disclosure of the financial records of Duterte, her husband Manases Carpio, her brother Paolo Duterte, and businesses linked to them. Those records form the anticipated paper trail behind Article II of the impeachment complaint, which alleges the vice president accumulated wealth beyond what her income can account for.
Rather than rule immediately, the impeachment court gave both sides time to submit written justifications after Duterte’s defense objected. Her lawyers branded the request an unauthorized “fishing expedition” reaching into records that predate her tenure as an impeachable official. Presiding officer Senator Francis Escudero heard oral arguments — Akbayan Party-List Rep. Chel Diokno for the prosecution, attorney Michael Poa for the defense — before senator-judges retreated into a caucus and adjourned without deciding the matter.
Diokno had leaned on precedent, reminding the chamber that the 2012 impeachment court subpoenaed the bank records of then-Chief Justice Renato Corona and admitted evidence dating to before his appointment. He noted that Alan himself, back then, had pressed for Corona’s initial deposit records to be laid before the court. Poa’s counter was narrower: the question, he said, is not whether the court holds the power but whether it can wield it “in a manner that disregards due process.”
Much of the siblings’ frustration during the stream traced back to a separate flashpoint — the National Bureau of Investigation’s announced probe into the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. Alan chaired the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee that staged the event, and both senators questioned why NBI Director Melvin Matibag chose to publicize the investigation days before he is set to testify at the trial on July 20. During Wednesday’s session, Pia played a clip of Matibag’s ambush interview on the Senate floor and called his conduct “possibly contemptible,” invoking jurisprudence that bars anything resembling intimidation of sitting judges.
On the substance of the SEA Games allegations, Alan maintained that the sports complex was privately financed. “There was no public money used,” he said. Matibag, for his part, has said the bureau assembled a task force and is examining alleged bidding and funding irregularities tied to the New Clark City complex, pointing to roughly P10 billion in questioned outlays.
Pia used the stream to push back on suggestions that irregularities, if real, should tar the country’s athletic programs wholesale. “Kung may anomalya somewhere, then of course dapat imbestigahan. But I’m just saying na huwag ho natin lahatin na lang… Kasi nakakasama ng loob for all the athletes who work so hard and deserve better programs and better facilities,” she said.
She also walked viewers through how sports funding actually moves, describing constitutional backing for athletic support and explaining that when associations and coaches fail to secure allocations in the National Expenditure Program, they approach legislators to propose amendments. Lawmakers, she stressed, only draft those proposals and never touch the money once the executive branch releases it. Her role, she said, “is to make the proposals, to make the amendments.”
Alan, meanwhile, cast youth sports as a hedge against worse outcomes. “Walang talo sa sports e,” he said.
Pia also addressed the personal criticism aimed at her delivery and her frequent reminders that she is a lawyer, rejecting the idea that either amounted to arrogance. “Pero yung hindi niyo lang type yung boses ko, sorry na. Kasi yan ako talaga yung binigay sa akin ng Diyos… Kung may training man ako, ang training ko ay nasa pag-aabugado,” she said, adding that she was simply trying to share what she knows.
