The defense camp of Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, March 17, lamented the alleged "double standards" of House members when they declared sufficient both in form and substance the impeachment complaint against her.

Michael Poa, spokesman for Duterte's defense team, said members of the House of Justice Committee applied a "different standard" when they deliberated on her case, compared to that of President Marcos, who also faced an impeachment complaint.

A day prior, Duterte's defense team submitted its answers ad cautelam to the impeachment complaint she is facing before the House of Representatives. There, they laid out two points, according to Poa.

Without giving much detail about their answer "out of respect for the proceedings and the Committee," Poa disclosed that one of their points was the "double standards" applied to the case of the Vice President.

"Sa aming pananaw ay nagkaroon ng ibang standards, o double standard ika nga, doon sa nagiging pagsusuri sa sufficiency in form and substance pagdating doon sa mga impeachment complaint na naihain laban sa ating pangulo kung ikukumpara mo doon sa naging pagsusuri naman doon sa impeachment complaint na inihain laban doon sa bise presidente (In our view, there was a different standard—or a double standard, so to speak—in the evaluation of the sufficiency in form and substance regarding the impeachment complaint filed against our President, if you compare it to the evaluation of the impeachment complaint filed against the Vice President)," Poa said in a DZMM interview.

"Hindi pwedeng iba ang standards pag parehong nasa equal footing yung official na ini-impeach (The standards cannot be different when the officials being impeached are on equal footing)," he added.

According to Poa, House lawmakers found sufficiency in form and in substance in the allegations against the Vice President, which haven't even been ruled by court.

"Kahit wala pa namang final decision na sinasabi yung korte sa mga paratang na sinasabi nilang offenses o krimen ay sinabi pa rin nilang sufficient in substance (Even though the court has not yet issued a final decision on the allegations they claim are offenses or crimes, they still declared it sufficient in substance)," Poa said.

The defense team's second point, according to Poa, was that there were "not enough recital of facts" during the deliberations.

"Ibig sabihin po noon, walang ultimate facts... Yung recital of facts is not enough, sufficient to constitute the offense charged, the impeachable offense charged (What that means is, there are no ultimate facts... The recital of facts is not enough or sufficient to constitute the offense charged, the impeachable offense charged)," Poa said.

"Sabi nila ginastos yung confidential funds para sa kanyang pang sariling personal gains... pero hindi nila natanto kung paano naging personal gain o paano naman inapprorpiate sa sarili nya, ng Bise Presidente (They said the confidential funds were spent for her own personal gains... but they did not explain how it became a personal gain or how the Vice President allegedly appropriated it for herself)," he said.

Poa said there are "no logical conclusions" in the case built by House members.

"So sa'min ang nangyari ay mga (So for us, what happened was mere) speculation," he added.

Poa said the Vice President is not actually "shying away," not "evading" accountability and she has really "been wanting to talk about it."