Private prosecutor Amando Ligutan said his “teachers’ instinct” took over when he made his Facebook post stating that misleading questions are not allowed in court, following the courtroom exchange in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Addressing the Impeachment Court, Ligutan defended his post after the defense complained that it was in “bad taste” and inappropriate to do that to a fellow lawyer.
Ligutan said the viral exchange in the court showed the defense saying, in effect, that misleading questions were allowed in court.
He said that as a teacher, he wanted to refute it to teach his students through a Facebook post.
Aside from being a lawyer, he is also a teacher, he said.
“That’s why I made a post. I was concerned that a statement made in open courts that misleading questions allowed will go unchecked. My teacher’s instinct kicked in,” he said.
He noted that the defense called his post troubling, but he said what is more troubling is for the defense not to admit its mistake and to instead call out his correction.
It has even made his Facebook post a courtroom matter, he said.
“What is troubling is if we turn a correction of a mistake by one side into a shield from fair criticism for the other. Now the defense is asking this court to act on my posts,” he said.
He pointed out that his post did not discuss the strength or weakness of the oral arguments or the evidence and did not splice anything.
It only stated the rules of procedure.
Ligutan also threw back to the defense its call for humility when it questioned his Facebook post.
“The defense cannot lecture me on humility. If there’s somebody who needs to be reminded about humility, it’s them, the defense. It is the opposite of humility, it is pride, not to admit a mistake. Or worse, call out someone who simply corrected that mistake,” he said.