00:00The Council for Respondent will give his answer first with respect to the question of Senator Judge Pia on ultimate
00:08facts as well as on fishing expedition thereafter, Council for the panel of prosecutors. You may proceed, sir, when you're
00:13ready.
00:14Thank you, Your Honor. Pagdating po doon sa sinasabi namin na lack of ultimate facts, ito po yung nagsimula pa
00:22lang doon sa Committee on Justice when the impeachment complaints were filed.
00:25Because the allegation, and I'll stick just with this, I believe, Article 2. Pagdating po kasi doon, there was an
00:33allegation of unexplained wealth. Pero wala pong nakasulat kung saan nila nakuha, ano yung basihan ng unexplained wealth na yun.
00:46Ano yung act na ginawa ng vicepresidente? Kailan yun ginawa? At so sa amin, para masabi nilang nagkaroon ng unexplained
00:57wealth.
00:58Ang basic, if I may remember, was really just the fact na yung salenya ay lumaki from 2007 to 2025,
01:11which sa aming palagay does not show any factual allegation whatsoever, except for the fact that it grew bigger over
01:22a span of 20 years.
01:23Pangalawa, wala rin pong naka-attach, which I mentioned in the oral arguments last week, na kahit anong ebidensya, or
01:34kahit supporting document man lang, huwag na nating tawag yung ebidensya.
01:38Supporting document that will support any allegation whatsoever of unexplained wealth.
01:44And that is why, nabanggit ko rin, na after the allegations were made, and this is even more significant, after
01:52the respondent had filed her answer, na tinawag pa nga nilang non-answer,
01:59doon lang po naghanap ng mga ebidensya na sakaling makasuporta doon sa allegasyon na yun.
02:07That's very important for us, because we had already filed her answer before AMLOC documents were suddenly produced with the
02:16issuance of subpoenas,
02:17before the BIR box that we are concerning ourselves with was presented before the Committee on Justice.
02:25Nasa panahon na yun, tapos na po kami sumagot.
02:27So, in fact, when they were saying that it was a non-answer, to be very candid with everyone, we
02:35wanted to say it because it was a non-complaint.
02:38Kasi walang ultimate facts na naka-allege for us to even answer.
02:44Now, before this Honorable Court, I do recall that in our answer, we also took pains to discuss.
02:52The lack of ultimate facts, and also what we feel were violations of due process before the Committee on Justice,
03:03or at least with the proceedings that were conducted before the Committee on Justice.
03:07And that is also why we have a pending motion for exclusion na ikinalikip namin doon sa answer,
03:15precisely because we were objecting to the fact that these pieces of evidence were produced after we had already filed
03:24our answer.
03:25Now, on the fishing expedition, I think on the fishing expedition, Your Honors, our main point is this.
03:30Even if we read the twin requests for subpoenas, ulit-ulit po, nakasulat po doon,
03:40because this may show context, because this may prove something.
03:47At para sa atin, this only shows, and at least, again, on the part of the defense,
03:54this is somewhat already an admission, na hindi pa nga nila alam kung ano mismo doon sa mga hinihingi nila
04:02ang pwedeng sumuporta sa mga aligasyon na unexplained wealth.
04:07And that's why, if you read the entire request, it uses the word may several times,
04:14and it even says in one paragraph, I think it's 3.24, but I might be mistaken,
04:20that at least with the request for, with their memorandum, rather, in their memorandum,
04:27nakasulat po doon that this does not assume wrongdoing,
04:31but they want those documents nonetheless to see if something there will actually help support their allegations.
04:40That is why we are calling it a fishing expedition.
04:43Dahil in Tagalog, para po maintindihan, sa aming pananaw, sa dami ng hinihing dokumento,
04:49para po itong nagtatapon po tayo sa dagat ng isang napakalaking lambat,
04:54at umaasa tayo na kahit papano may mabingwit kahit isang pirasong ebidensya.
05:00Maraming salamat po.
05:03Council for the Panel of Prosecutors, the Honorable Jokno.
05:07Thank you, Your Honors.
05:08The question propounded to this representation first is,
05:12what are the ultimate facts alleged in the Articles of Impeachment?
05:17Yung po ay nakasaad sa page 7 of the Articles,
05:21and if I may be allowed to just read them briefly.
05:25You may do so, Council.
05:26Thank you, Your Honor.
05:28Respondent Vice President Sara Z. Duterte committed culpable violation of the Constitution
05:33and betrayed the public trust when she
05:35A. Amassed unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings
05:42during her incumbency as a public official.
05:45B. Failed to fully and truthfully disclose all her and her spouse's assets,
05:52liabilities and net worth,
05:54in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth,
05:57including in her silence for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024.
06:03And C. Failed to divest and instead willfully continued all her business interests
06:10during her tenure as Vice President for the years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
06:18Please allow me to briefly explain why these are ultimate facts.
06:22Ultimate facts are basically the essential factual elements
06:26that make up a party's cause of action or defense.
06:30Halimbawa po, pag-murder, treachery, evident premeditation,
06:34lahat ng mga kinakailangan ng batas para mapatunayan na murder po siya.
06:39In our case, we are alleging, first of all, unexplained wealth.
06:44And based on the jurisprudence, the elements of unexplained wealth,
06:48the factual elements are amassing unexplained wealth,
06:52manifestly disproportionate to one's lawful income and earnings
06:56during one's incumbency as a public official.
07:00So, nasatisfy po namin yung requirement na pag-allege ng ultimate facts
07:06or essential factual elements sa tatlong bagay na po ito.
07:10The evidentiary facts follow in the succeeding pages of the articles.
07:16Doon po namin din italye kung ano yung mga ibat-ibang paraan,
07:20kung paano nakuha o naamas ni Vice President,
07:25yung nga ang sinasabi natin na unexplained wealth.
07:28On to the issue of fishing expedition.
07:31Yung pong fishing expedition po,
07:33ay halimbawa, may sabina na baka sakali meron tayong makita.
07:38Yun po ang ibig sabihin ng fishing expedition.
07:42When the party requesting information does not know what might be produced,
07:48and just as an off chance,
07:51tries to use that instrument in order to gain evidence that may be used against the other party.
07:58Dito po, malaki ang pagkaiba ng sitwasyon.
08:01Maalala po ninyo, during the hearings before the Committee on Justice,
08:06the Executive Director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council testified and produced documents
08:12showing that from 2007 up to the present,
08:176.7 billion pesos ang dumaan po sa account ni Vice President Sara Duterte.
08:25On that basis, and if we go deeper into that report,
08:29it says that during the period from 2007 to 2013,
08:34during the time that she served as mayor and vice mayor,
08:37umabot po sa halos o lampas tatlong bilyong piso ang dumaan sa kanyang mga accounts.
08:43So may basihan po tayo para ipalabas ang bank records.
08:50We are not just guessing that there is something there,
08:53because the AMLA itself has confirmed
08:56that there were covered and suspicious transaction reports
09:00submitted to them in those amounts that I mentioned.
09:05Malayo po ang fishing expedition sa ginagawa ng prosecution dito po.
09:10If we had no basis at all, if we did not know what was in the AMLA reports,
09:16ayun po, maaring sabihin na fishing expedition.
09:19But in this particular case, we know,
09:22because these are matters of record presented before the Committee on Justice.
09:28Second po, ang fishing expedition, maaring magamit yan sa ibang mga allegasyon,
09:35tulad ng baka meron kang hindi na declare sa iyong salen.
09:40But when it comes to issues of unexplained wealth,
09:44it's very clear.
09:45The decisions of the court are very clear.
09:47To know whether a government official has amassed unexplained wealth,
09:52we must look at the entire incumbency of that official.
09:56Starting from day one, we look at their salen,
09:59we look at all the income that he or she has earned,
10:03both lawful and not,
10:05and from there we make a determination
10:07whether there was unexplained wealth or not.
10:11For this reason, so your honours,
10:13the fishing expedition argument in our view
10:15is totally untenable.
10:19All right.
10:21All right.
10:29You
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