Viral posts circulating on Facebook and TikTok claim that no evidence was presented by the prosecution against Vice President Sara Duterte during the impeachment trial. This is false.
Posted on Oct. 13, the photo of members of the House prosecution panel bore the line saying:
“PROSECUTION: WALANG EBIDENSIYA LABAN KAY VP SARA.
(Prosecution: No evidence against VP Sara)”
It was accompanied by a lengthy caption arguing that the prosecution’s withdrawal of three impeachment articles after 38 days of proceedings raises questions about the strength of its accusations and the use of public resources, highlighting that “accountability must be applied to the accuser too.” This prompted netizens to leave comments such as:
“Accountability must apply to the accusers too! Yes indeed!”
“They should be held accountable for the haphazard preparations before filing an impeachment case. Nag sayang lang sila ng pera na bayan (They just wasted taxpayers’ money!)”
“Gusto lang gyud e impeach bisan walay ebedensya
Mga mgna walay.mga ulaw bagag mga nawong hadlok mapolihan ilang presidente.
(They just really want to impeach her even without evidence. Those people have no shame and are shamelessly afraid that their president might be replaced.)”
Since the start of the trial on July 6, the prosecution presented voluminous evidence on three articles — misuse of confidential funds (Article I), grave threats (Article IV) and unexplained wealth (Article II) – but did not present any for the bribery charge (Article III).
It withdrew Articles I, III and IV, which the Senate impeachment court accepted with different legal conditions applying to the articles. Only Article II will be pursued to expedite the impeachment process. The next hearing is set for Nov. 9.
On Oct. 6, Anti-Money Laundering Council Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura testified that AMLC records showed about ₱4.4 billion in covered and suspicious transactions involving VP Sara and her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio, from 2007 to 2025.
Three days later, the House prosecution announced that it had completed presenting evidence. Its final witness, certified public accountant and lawyer Alexander Cabrera estimated that Duterte and Carpio had ₱817.87 million in allegedly undeclared assets and income from 2022 to 2025. The prosecution presented their findings in support of Article II, which concerns alleged unexplained wealth, incomplete asset declarations and failure to divest business interests on Oct. 9.
In requesting the withdrawal on Oct. 13, House lead prosecutor Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro told the court the prosecution believes the evidence already presented under Article II “was substantial and compelling, and warrants the respondent’s removal from office for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.”
These erroneous posts surfaced shortly after the surprise withdrawal of the three impeachment articles.
Published by FB page AllWrite (created June 09, 2020), and several other FB and TikTok accounts, these posts have collectively garnered over 8,200 reactions; 1,375 comments; and 1,971 shares.
