Rep. Paolo Duterte of Davao City’s 1st District pushed back Wednesday against impeachment prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan, rejecting her claim that his family has fed a “culture of violence” in the Philippines.
The lawmaker’s statement was prompted by remarks Kapunan made when reporters asked her about the campus shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga. The prosecution counsel linked the country’s climate of violence to what she described as threats made by Vice President Sara Duterte against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as well as to the extrajudicial killings alleged to have taken place under former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Kapunan did not pin the blame on the Vice President alone. She pointed as well to a justice system she characterized as sluggish and to gaps in values education in schools as possible contributors.
“Hindi lang ang vice president ang sinasabi kong responsible. I am saying that she certainly is contributing to the problem and not to the solution,” she said.
For the Davao City representative, folding the school tragedy into the impeachment case crossed a line. He urged the lawyer to keep the incident separate from her campaign against his family.
“Ang nangyari sa Ateneo de Zamboanga ay isang krimen na kailangang imbestigahan at panagutin ang mga responsable — not another episode ng impeachment propaganda,” he said.
His message to Kapunan was that the prosecution’s job is to lay out its evidence and make its case rather than tie the shooting to political messaging.
The lawmaker also took aim at a separate challenge from the Akbayan Party, which had called on the Vice President to appear personally at the impeachment trial in the name of a faster process. He argued that her attendance was unnecessary and that her legal team should simply be permitted to carry out their work, framing evidence, due process, and fairness as the real measures of the proceedings.
“Speedy trial does not mean speedy surrender to a predetermined narrative,” he said.
