Presiding Officer Sen. Francis Escudero said the Impeachment Court will be strict in enforcing the sub judice rule moving forward, but will extend grace and not penalize any of the parties in the case for past comments on the merits of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Escudero said there would be a two-strike rule for violators of Rule 18 or the sub judice rule that prohibits comments on the merits of the ongoing case.
The first offense will be penalized with a severe reprimand and stern admonition in open court, and the second offense will be penalized with a P30,000 fine per violation.
Escudero said the rule applies to members of the Senate, the prosecutors, the respondent, and their respective counsels and witnesses.
“Counsel of record must litigate their respective causes before the court. Not in the court of public opinion, through interviews, social media posts, or publicly generated, authorized, encouraged, or disseminated, through surrogates. Counsel cannot have their cake and eat it too. They cannot invoke the authority of this court while simultaneously seeking to influence the proceedings through extrajudicial publicity,” he said.
According to him, the court was keeping tabs on the statements of the counsels, and cited several of their statements that violated the rules against commenting on the merits of the case.
The court will let these past violations pass for now, but he said it would be stricter moving forward.
“Henceforth, with respect to prior statements or conduct covered by Rule 18, the court shall extend grace, exercise, liberality, and wipe the slate clean. Tabula rasa, so to speak.
From this point forward, however, Rule 18 shall be strictly enforced and be given full force in effect. Accordingly, the chair hereby strictly enjoins all persons covered by Rule 18. You know who you are, and based on the records, we know who you are,” he said.
He said the court does not want trial by publicity and stressed that the counsel should refrain from making public statements, or otherwise discussing, sharing, or endorsing comments pertaining to the merits of this pending impeachment trial.
Such comments threaten the independence of the court, degrade the dignity of the tribunal, risk turning it into a circus, and weaponize the media to substitute public outrage for actual evidence, he said.
Escudero pointed out that he had reminded the parties to designate a specific spokesperson who is not a member of the prosecution or defense panels appearing before the court.
He said these spokespersons will be free to say what they want and not bound by the limitations imposed on those on the panel.
He also laid down the guidelines for compliance with Rule 18.
He said no party shall make public comments, statements, insinuations, or rhetorical questions that prejudge the issue to predict the outcome of the trial.
There should also be no comments that question pending rulings, substitute media pressure for evidence, promote distrust and undermine public confidence in the court by creating the impression that the court cannot be trusted to resolve the case impartially, and violate the right of the parties to have their case tried fairly by an independent tribunal.
He said a statement pertains to the merits when, viewed in the full context, it evaluates a disputed fact, a witness’ credibility, relevance, probity, value, weight, or sufficiency of a particular piece of evidence, assesses the legal viability of an article of impeachment, advocates a particular disposition of the charges or forecasts the ultimate vote.
But he also said the court recognizes a fair and true report of the proceedings, meaning a neutral, objective, and accurate recounting of the proceedings made in good faith without any comments or remarks.