House Committee on Justice Chairperson Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro called out Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday, April 22 for "ghosting" and "gaslighting" the panel amid the latter's own impeachment proceedings.

Wednesday,marked the second to the last hearing of justice panel as far as the determination of probable cause in the two active impeachment complaints against Duterte was concerned.

The Vice President has no-showed the near weekly hearings, which began last March 25.

"Let me be clear: this committee will not take anything at face value—whether said inside this hall or outside of it. Hindi tayo basta maniniwala sa ingay. We will evaluate everything. Dahil ang katotohanan ay hindi matatagpuan sa mga press release. Ito ay nakasandal sa mga dokumento, at sa mga salaysay na sinumpaan,” Luistro said in her opening speech.

(We will not simply believe the noise. We will evaluate everything. Because the truth is not found in press releases. It rests on documents and sworn testimonies.)

"Sa totoo lang, na-ghost na nga tayo, tila gina-gaslight pa tayo. Ang mas mahalagang tanong ay kung nasaan ang pera, ngunit ang sagot sa atin ay tungkol sa grado sa kolehiyo," she said, using Gen Z terminologies.

(To be honest, we’ve already been ghosted, and now it seems we’re being gaslighted. The more important question is where the money is, yet the answer given to us is about college grades.)

Luistro was referring to Vice President Duterte's "rebuttal" of detainee Ramil Madriaga's claim during the April 14 hearing that the impeachment respondent struggled with her academics in San Sebastian College-Recoletos College of Law.

Duterte has yet to answer other allegations made by Madriaga, her alleged "bagman". This includes his alleged distribution of P125 million worth of the Office of the Vice President's (OVP) confidential funds in less than a day, as well as the usage of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) money during her 2022 election campaign.

“And the worst part? This explanation is not being made here, but everywhere else. Ang gusto natin ay testimonya sa ilalim ng sumpa, pero ang ibinibigay sa atin ay press release, at content sa social media,” the panel chairperson said.

(What we want are testimonies under oath, but what we are being given are press releases and social media content.)

Luustro recalled that the previous hearing had brought in subpoenaed documents, the public testimony of Madriaga, records adopted from the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, handwriting findings from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) certifications and Commission on Audit (COA) developments involving the Vice President’s confidential funds.

“But there was one thing we could not ignore; something that was right in front of us: the empty chair of the Vice President. Wala ho siya nitong nakaraan. Habang nandito ang mga nagrereklamo, ang tanging humarap sa atin ay isang bakanteng upuan,” she noted.