MANILA — The camp of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte is asking for the outright dismissal of the impeachment complaint because it allegedly has no counterevidence to address the charges in the Articles of Impeachment, House trial spokesperson Zia Alonto Adiong said.

In a televised interview, Adiong said the Vice President’s response was lengthy but ultimately centered on seeking dismissal of the case rather than confronting the allegations during trial.

“To be honest with you, it’s quite voluminous ‘yung mismo sagot nila. But may gumawa naman din sila ng executive summary ng kanilang mga kasagutan (their answer is quite voluminous. But they did make an executive summary of their responses),” Alonto Adiong said.

He said the defense is effectively asking the impeachment court to throw out the case before evidence is examined.

“Kumbaga kung i-summarize mo, ang gusto lang talaga nila is ma-dismiss ‘yung kaso. Wala sa Constitution na mayroong choice ang Senado na i-dismiss ang kaso (If you summarize it, what they really wanted is to dismiss the case. There is nothing in the Constitution that says the Senate has a choice to dismiss the case),” Adiong said.

He added that the Constitution mandates the Senate impeachment court to try the case and issue a ruling after trial, not to dismiss it outright.

“Ang choice lang talaga doon (The only choice) is to have a full trial and then reach judgment whether to acquit or to convict,” Adiong said.

The House prosecution panel also said the defense’s procedural and constitutional arguments are not new, noting these were already raised during earlier House proceedings.

“It already came out last year, and rehashed lang talaga siya (it’s only a rehashed version),” he said.

Adiong said the move to seek dismissal suggests the defense may be avoiding a direct response to the allegations in the impeachment complaint.

“Sa palagay ko (In my on view), the reason why they wanted to dismiss the case, appealing or praying for the court to dismiss the case right away or outright dismissal, it’s because they don’t have anything to offer as a counterevidence to refute the allegations contained in the Articles of Impeachment,” he said.

The House prosecution panel earlier filed a manifestation instead of a reply, arguing that Duterte’s answer mainly questioned the impeachment process and did not require a detailed point-by-point response.

The impeachment court is scheduled to hold pretrial on June 18, with the trial proper expected to begin in July.