Duterte trial: Prosecutors won't be 'intimidated' if VP attends

MANILA, Philippines – The prosecution team will not be intimidated if Vice President Sara Duterte attends her impeachment trial, its members said on Monday, as the nation’s second-highest official has yet to appear in the proceedings.

“Nobody [would] get intimidated. Nobody is getting… scared off,” Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, the prosecution team’s spokesman, said in a media briefing.

At the same press conference, prosecution spokesman lawyer Benjamin Tolosa Jr. said Duterte’s attendance at the trial would not shake prosecutors or prompt them to adjust their strategy.

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“At the very least, this will show that she is finally heeding the call of the people asking her to show respect to the constitutional process and to the impeachment court by facing these charges in person and letting the people hear how she will answer these serious allegations,” he said.

Duterte faces allegations that she misused hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential funds, amassed unexplained wealth, bribed officials, and threatened President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the first lady, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

READ: Prosecutors brace for intense trial week as Duterte’s top aide testifies

Last week, Duterte went to the Senate not to attend the trial but to meet with her team of lawyers after a press briefing, where she reiterated her statement that the trial would leave her “unbowed.” /mcm

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