00:00It is recognized. What is your pleasure, ma'am?
00:04Thank you, Mr. Presiding Officer. Good afternoon to everyone.
00:08We note, Mr. Presiding Officer, that you mentioned that yung abandonment of Rule 18 is really for the benefit of
00:16the defense, no?
00:19Para makapagsalita nga sila.
00:21And I would assume that they appreciate that.
00:23But his honor will recall, when we were discussing in the corner earlier, I had voiced out my position that
00:33magugulat ang defense dito sa issue na to. Kasi ako nagulat.
00:37Baka iba sa inyo hindi gulat, no? Pero ako po gulat. Hindi ko alam na mangyayari to.
00:43It appears that the defense is also surprised.
00:45So I had said that we should give the defense time to decide how they want to react.
00:52Just because magbilis na nagdesisyon ng prosecution, whether this has been something they've been thinking about for a day, a
00:59week, overnight.
01:01Well, the defense is the one being accused.
01:05The defense is the one who has to defend themselves and we have enough constitutional provisions, legal provisions to protect
01:13the right of the defense.
01:15And one of them is to give them enough time to decide what is the proper course of action.
01:19So when we asked the lead defense lawyer, ano yung next?
01:25I think it's, she said what she needed to say, which is they are reserving the right to do whatever
01:33they deem necessary.
01:34So they may, they may decide na we will make use of the presiding officer's decision to abandon Rule 18.
01:43Pero maybe you have to give them time to think about it.
01:46Kasi if they will insist in whatever form, and I don't know what form that is, that they want to
01:51present evidence whether that is by way of a one-sided speech.
01:56Whether they will ask the different lawyers to present, to offer the evidence that they would have offered if natuloy
02:05ito.
02:06Or they will just have one spokesperson to say this, this is what the defense of the, of the Senate,
02:12of the vice president would have been.
02:14Or if they want to say, and even bring her here to have defended themselves, we don't know.
02:19At least I don't know.
02:20So all I'm saying is, we need to give them sufficient time, whether that's the whole afternoon, I don't know,
02:27an hour.
02:28Let's ask them.
02:29Because to immediately say, and I know the presiding officer is saying this was for their benefit.
02:34So precisely, give them time to decide how they want to avail of this benefit or this right that this
02:42court would like to give them, that you can now speak about it in public.
02:45Pero yung nag-iisip pa lang sila, how they will now defend the reputation of their client or they have
02:52to ask their client what, how she wants to proceed, that is, that directly affects if Rule 18 will be
03:01abandoned or not.
03:02Because nga, if si Bing, wala na kami pe-present dito, free for all talaga, or they might want to
03:07avail of it, pero in 24 hours, in 48 hours, tomorrow, that's the right.
03:14Because you can't say, nobody can say anything, then suddenly, pwede na.
03:19And what they thought would happen next was that they would be presenting evidence and that's not what's happening next.
03:25So that's all I'm saying.
03:26And the last point I want to raise, Mr. Presiding Officer, is every politician knows and every human being knows
03:36that their reputation is what they have.
03:39Ano ba nilalagay natin pag namatay tayo?
03:41So, he was a good father, she was a good mother, he or she was a good public servant.
03:49Diba? So when you say, ano pang ipagtatanggol nyo?
03:51Well, it's who you are. Yun ang ipagtatanggol mo.
03:54I-defend mo.
03:55Now, it's up to the senator judges to decide if yung defense na yun is enough to acquit the accused.
04:05But they have the, they, whoever the accused is, has that right.
04:11So pag tinanong natin, bakit pa? Yun yung reason kung bakit.
04:15Who here would like to be accused in a formal setting?
04:18This is a formal setting. This is an impeachment court.
04:21Tapos sabihin na, wala ka naman i-defend ne.
04:23No, meron. It's who you are.
04:26It's what you stood for. It's what you were voted for.
04:29You have the right in the same forum to address that.
04:32So yun lang naman sakin.
04:33And I'm not dictating how the defense wants to do it.
04:36I'm just saying that I do believe that they should be given time to decide
04:40how they represent their client based on what they want to do and what their client wants to do.
04:45Thank you, Mr. Preside.
04:54Thank you, Mr. Preside.
