MANILA, Philippines — A former Supreme Court spokesperson and several prominent lawyers from leading law firms were named as new members of the House prosecution panel in the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima announced on Monday that former SC spokesperson Theodore Te, also of the Free Legal Assistance Group, has joined the prosecution team, along with lawyers Reynaldo Robles and Arnold Labay of the Chan Robles and Associates Law Firm, and Mae Divinagracia of Co Nazario Velasco-Catera and Divinagracia Law Offices.
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The new additions, De Lima said would strengthen the House panel ahead of the impeachment trial scheduled to begin on July 6.
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The House prosecution team, which will present the case against Duterte before the Senate sitting as an impeachment court, is composed mainly of lawmakers who are lawyers but have had limited legal practice in recent years.One of the newly appointed prosecutors, Robles, said he volunteered to join the panel because of the importance of the case.
“In this impeachment case, we took courage to volunteer because we can no longer just close our eyes while there are things happening in our society that are unacceptable, which we can’t ignore any longer,” he said in Filipino.
De Lima also announced that former Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has been designated as one of the prosecution’s spokespersons. (With a report from John Eric Mendoza)/dp
