House leader Libanan named lead prosecutor in VP Sara Duterte impeachment trial

House Minority Leader and 4Ps party-list Representative Marcelino Libanan has been named the lead prosecutor in the looming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Fellow House prosecutor and 1-Rider party-list Representative Rodge Gutierrez made the announcement on the same day that the House prosecutors asked the Senate impeachment court to order Vice President Duterte to file an answer to the Articles of Impeachment lodged against her in an entry with the motion of summons submitted to the Senate.

Gutierrez said that the said letter of the House prosecutors to the Senate impeachment court authorized Libanan to:

• execute the verification in relation to any petition motion pleading that must be filed on the House prosecutors' behalf
• sign and file any motion pleading or submission on behalf of the prosecution
• execute all other documents and perform all other acts necessary to give effect to the foregoing authority and
• sign documents in relation to impeachment.

“We’d just like to announce that a letter was submitted to the Senate, signed by the other 10 prosecutors, including myself, that we have appointed, constituted, and empowered the most senior member of the public prosecutors, the Honorable Marcelino C. Libanan, to perform these acts on behalf of all public prosecutors,” Gutierrez said in a press conference.

“In summary, we have instituted the Honorable Libanan, although it is not yet formal...in effect, this is what we call lead prosecutor,” Gutierrez added.

Libanan, a lawyer, also served as an Eastern Samar representative from 1998 to 2007 and Eastern Samar Vice Governor from 1992 to 1995.

He also served as one of the Bureau of Immigration Commissioners during Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's administration.

In his first press conference as a lead prosecutor Libanan then expressed confidence that the Senate will eventually heed the House’s call to start trial as stated int he 1987 Consitution.

“This [impeachment trial] is very important because we have to prevent more, further harm. If a public official is working against the public interest, we need to prevent that harm. Secondly, we need to uphold the rule of law, and this is provided for in our Constitution. We already had more than one-third of House members who signed off on the impeachment complaint, and the House members are the representatives of the people,” Libanan said.

“Then there’s public trust and preserving institutional integrity. So this cannot be delayed, as this will set a precedent for other high-ranking public officials. “Itong Senado ay nakikinig sa taong bayan, lalo na pag nakita nila na ang mga prosecutors ay handang gampanan ang aming tungkulin at naghanda po kami aa iniutos sa amin ng buong kamara, palagay ko makikinig sila rito,” Libanan added.

Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero already set the impeachment trial for July, saying that the Senate would not conduct the trial since it is on break.

Veteran lawmaker Libanan and neophyte legislator Gutierrez, however, argued that convening the Senate impeachment court outside of Congressional session is aboveboard.

“Impeachment is [a] separate [mandate] from the regular hearings of the House. Even on break, the Senate can be constituted as an impeachment court. This is specified precisely by the Constitution on what is the importance of this process,” Libanan said.

“As the good Senate President has mentioned, that the Senate is ready to prepare for the trial. They are willing to go through the motions and any preparation that might be necessary even prior. So in relation to the timeline, the motion filed by the prosecution to the Honorable Libanan, the entry with the motion of summons, this could be considered one of those preparatory steps. We are of the opinion that legally, they can tackle this matter even within the timeline that they have originally mentioned,” Gutierrez, also a lawyer, added. — BM, GMA Integrated News