A Supreme Court decision terminating the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte meant that the country would be spared from spending millions on a “defective” trial, Office of the Vice President (OVP) spokesperson Ruth Castelo said.

“If it's for the impeachment trial, that is fine, the Vice President is ready. If it's not, if the Supreme Court says it cannot be heard at this time, then we'll be very lucky actually as a country because we'll save millions and millions of money on a trial that is technically defective from the beginning,” she said in a press conference on Wednesday, July 16.

“So okay lang na, kung hindi talaga dapat na ituloy, tama lang rin naman, huwag tayong magsayang ng resources ng bansa. Mas marami tayong kailangan na pagkagastahan kaysa sa trial na matetechnical din sa dulo (So, it’s okay, it’s fine not to continue a trial that shouldn’t be started from the start, let’s not waste the country’s resources. There are more things we need to spend on than a trial that has violated technicalities in the end),” she explained.

Castelo, however, maintained that the Vice President is “ready” to face the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, if the trial pushes through.

This despite Duterte’s camp filing a petition before the High Court against the validity and constitutionality of the fourth impeachment complaint against her.

“The Vice President is ready. She's been saying that. And she's eager to be able to present her case or her evidence in the impeachment court, so that once and for all, all doubts cast on her will go away. And that's what she wants,” she said.

The official was responding to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey result showing that 66 percent of Filipinos want Duterte to face the impeachment court and formally address the charges against her.

However, Castelo argued that the Vice President’s lawyers are taking “legal remedies, legal strategies that are allowable in our system.”

“So we'll wait. The Vice President will just wait for whatever decision the Supreme Court issues on this one. And should the impeachment trial go as planned, the Vice President is prepared,” she insisted.

Meanwhile, she also welcomed an SWS survey where Duterte got a 61 percent trust rating.

“So, getting a 61 percent authentic survey will make anyone happy. So the Vice President welcomes this survey, and she intends to even continue working hard, or maybe work harder than she is working now, so that we can still increase that confidence rating for her,” Castelo told reporters.

She dismissed remarks that the Vice President’s trust rating went stale as it barely moved from the 60 percent she got in the last period.

The official explained that plans, programs, activities, and accomplishments of the OVP and Duterte “have not been highlighted or have not been brought down to the public for them to know.”