Rep. Terry Ridon framed Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment as a referendum on her fitness for higher office, telling The STAR that the proceedings force a question beyond the Senate floor: whether she is “the president that we wish to elect in 2028.”
Speaking on the publication’s “Truth on the Line,” the House prosecutor said the Article IV case on grave threats was never designed to establish that Duterte contracted a hitman against the President and his family. That claim, he argued, sits outside the matter before the court. What the trial must settle, in his telling, is whether she remains suited to hold the vice presidency at all.
“Is that the president we wish to elect in 2028? Making threats against a Filipino? The Vice President herself had stated that she wanted to be President in 2028, so we need to measure her on that standard. Is this the type of leadership that we would want to have in our nation?” Ridon said.
He tied the case to a wider objective: dismantling what he described as a culture of violence that took root under former president Rodrigo Duterte, the Vice President’s father. The elder Duterte drew notoriety during his term for profanity-laced statements in public, among them open threats to have people killed.
That climate, Ridon suggested, has filtered down to Duterte loyalists. He said supporters, taking cues from their leaders, have leveled threats at those outside their political camp. As one instance, he cited a councilor from Lebak, Sultan Kudarat — Robert Celestial — who allegedly sent him a message vowing to punch him. Ridon said he intends to pursue legal action over the incident.
On the strength of the prosecution’s case, he expressed confidence that the two NBI witnesses already presented — senior agent John Mark Calilung and Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc — held up under aggressive questioning.
“We have high confidence that we have proven the case of threats. We have satisfaction in the manner in which we have presented the evidence,” he said, adding that their testimonies remained “unblemished” through cross-examination.
The panel is set to close its Article IV presentation with NBI Director Melvin Matibag, its final witness on the grave threats charge, scheduled to take the stand July 21.
Separately, private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan turned the defense’s own criticism back on the Duterte side, accusing it of obstructing the prosecution’s attempts to put evidence before the court.
“The VP said the prosecution is just all noise – no evidence. And yet now that we are presenting evidence, who is blocking the evidence? Who is blocking the presentation of the bank records? Who is blocking the presentation of the BIR records? Who is blocking all relevant evidence?” she asked.
Senate impeachment court spokesman Reginald Tongol, in a Zoom briefing, said Monday’s session would take up the prosecution’s bid to subpoena Duterte’s bank and tax records. He pointed to the 2012 Corona impeachment as a reference point for how senators might weigh the House team’s request for the documents.
