Isabela Vice Mayor Atty. Harold Respicio on Thursday said impeachment court Presiding Officer, Sen. Chiz Escudero may have decided to strictly enforce the sub judice rule after seeing “abuses by both the prosecution and defense, including senator-judges,” during the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
In an interview on Bilyonaryo News Channel’s At The Forefront with Atty. Karen Jimeno, Respicio said Escudero was right to enforce the rule, which bars parties involved in the case from publicly discussing its merits while the trial is ongoing.
“Tama po yung ginawa ni Presiding Officer Chief Escudero dahil nasa rules po yan ng impeachment court, na dapat hindi magsalita yung mga parties tungkol sa mga merits ng kaso,” Respicio said.
He said the restriction covers not only lawyers but also the parties, the panel of prosecutors and their spokespersons.
Respicio said the rule also covers senator-judges, who must refrain from discussing questions of law and fact outside the impeachment proceedings while the trial is ongoing.
“Habang umaandar ang trial, yung mga involved sa kaso, huwag kayong magsalita about questions of law, questions of facts, dahil po maimpluwensyahan yung pagdinig ng mga judges,” he said.
“If you want to argue your case, argue it in the trial,” Respicio added.
But Respicio said those who are not directly involved in the impeachment proceedings remain free to comment on the case as part of their freedom of speech.
Asked whether the public may even discuss the merits of the case, Respicio replied, “Yes, pwede po.”
“Hindi saklaw ang media. Hindi po saklaw yung mga nagko-comment sa labas ng mga partido,” he said.
He said prosecutors, defense lawyers and their spokespersons may still discuss procedural matters outside the trial, such as explaining what happened or what their side plans to do next.
However, they should not argue outside the impeachment court why a particular position should prevail on questions of fact or law.
“Once i-argue mo sa labas ng korte kung bakit ganito dapat ang holding natin sa question of fact or question of law, dapat ginagawa mo yan sa loob,” he said.
Respicio also said the restriction applies to senator-judges when they use their time during the proceedings to make political arguments or advocate for a particular side.
He cited Escudero’s warning that such statements and arguments would no longer be allowed under the strict enforcement of the sub judice rule.
“Siguro po napapansin na ni Sen. Chiz Escudero na naabuso na yung sub judice rule,” Respicio said.
He noted that the rule was initially enforced more loosely because the public’s interest in receiving information about the trial was also important.
“Umpisa nakikita natin na maluwag sila, ok lang naman iyon kasi interes ng publiko ang number one priority natin pati ang interes ng publiko na mabigyan sila ng tamang information,” he said.
“But it was abused during the trial and outside the trial,” Respicio added.
He said Escudero may have reached a point where he felt the repeated violations had gone too far.
“Sabi niya, since paulit-ulit kayo, nakakapikon na kayo. Tama na, tama na, sumusobra na kayo,” Respicio said.#