A MEMBER of the House prosecution team on Tuesday said the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte was not a witch hunt, and criticized Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri for saying it was.
Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Lorenz Defensor issued the statement after Zubiri, in an interview on Monday, said “yes” when asked if he thought the impeachment was a witch hunt.
“It’s very unbecoming of a senator-judge in an impeachment trial to say that the impeachment complaint and the trial is a witch hunt. These statements should not come from senator-judges who are expected to receive the evidence with impartiality and to treat the impeachment as a constitutional process,” Defensor said.
“Let’s listen to the evidence first before talking, even as a prosecutor, I did not prejudge a conviction or an acquittal. All we’re saying is that there is evidence here and more than 215 members of Congress believe that you should hear this out before calling it a witch hunt or saying that it should be dismissed, because this is a constitutional process which must proceed to find justice, not for the complainants, but for Filipinos,” he added in Filipino and English.
In February, the House of the 19th Congress impeached Duterte over alleged misuse of confidential funds, among other charges.
On Monday, responding to a question from a journalist, Zubiri said he thought the impeachment was a witch hunt aimed at taking out the leading candidate for president in 2028.
“Whether I am pro-Sara or not, I have to listen to the evidence that will be presented by them. Of course, I have some biases. I think that it is a witch hunt because they want to remove her from public service…. But I will set that aside; I’ll set my bias aside because we have to follow the process. That’s the process in the Constitution,” Zubiri said on Monday.
In an interview with ANC on Tuesday, the senator said that the media had asked him and that he reacted with, “Yes, for me, if you ask me,… in my opinion, it could be a witch hunt…”
In the same interview, he said, “I said, ‘But we must continue with the process and listen to the evidence at hand.’ And therefore, I am open to listening to all the pieces of evidence.”
Under the 1987 Constitution, only the House can initiate impeachment cases and only the Senate can try and decide impeachment cases.
The Constitution states that if the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least a third of all House members, the same shall constitute the impeachment articles, “and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”
But the trial has been delayed, with the Senate impeachment court returning the articles of impeachment to the House and ordering prosecutors to certify that they had not violated the Constitution.
On June 25, 2025, the House submitted to the Senate impeachment court the House resolution attesting that the impeachment proceedings it initiated against Duterte complied with the Constitution.
The term of office of those elected to seats in the 20th Congress started on June 30, 2025 at noon.
The 20th Congress will open session on July 28.
Duterte has responded to the Senate summons by insisting that the complaint be dismissed because it violated the rule in the Constitution that bars more than one impeachment complaint being filed against the same official in a year.
Before the House transmitted its complaint, three other impeachment complaint had been filed at the House. Only the fourth was transmitted to the Senate.
Meanwhile, the Palace said it does not see the need for senator-judges to inhibit themselves from the impeachment trial, but urged them to refrain from displaying their biases on the case.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro issued the statement after Zubiri called that the impeachment against Duterte a “witch hunt” aimed at removing her from the 2028 presidential race.
“First of all, we have no hand on whatever’s happening in the impeachment trial but as a senator-judge… it’s better to refrain from these thoughts because it will show your biases,” Castro said during a press conference on Tuesday.
“First of all, they’re saying that this is a witch hunt? The trial has not even started yet. So it’s like a judge saying that she is not guilty without hearing any evidence,” she added.
Castro said senator-judges should instead show to the public how they will serve the nation.
“They shouldn’t inhibit; they should just show to the people how they will act and move for the sake of the people,” she said when asked whether the Palace believes that biased senator-judges should inhibit themselves from the impeachment trial.
Zubiri earlier said that he believed that Duterte’s trial must proceed because the 1987 Constitution states so.
However, he also said that he believed it was a witch hunt because people wanted “to remove her from public service” so that others would sit as vice president, or Duterte would be taken out of the 2028 presidential race.
Eventually, Zubiri said he would set aside his biases and follow the process stated in the Constitution.
Duterte was accused of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes. She has since denied the allegations.
