Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon has taken up the cudgels for his fellow impeachment prosecutor Bukidnon 2nd district Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores, who has received flak online for abstaining during the vote to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte.

Speaking during the prosecution panel members' press conference on Tuesday, May 19, Ridon highlighted Flores' capability and intregity as part of the group of solons who were tasked to get a conviction on the Vice President.

"Just to speak for the entirety of the panel, I don't think we have any doubt on the confidence, integrity, and expertise of Congressman Flores to take on the role of public prosecutor," Ridon said.

"To be clear, the choice and election of the public prosecutor is based on their, syempre, karanasan po bilang lingkod bayan, at karanasan din po bilang abugado (of course, on their experience as a public servant and also on their experience as a lawyer)," said the party-list lawmaker.

"At tingin naman po namin ay competent si Congressman Flores to take on the role as a public prosecutor," he further said.

(And we believe Congressman Flores is competent to take on the role of public prosecutor.)

Flores, after hearing his House colleague's kind words, said, "I'd like to thank Cong Terry for that."

Earlier in the presser, Flores was asked about the supposed disconnect between his abstention from the impeachment vote against Duterte last May 11, and his becoming a prosecutor in the case just days later.

Netizens have also cited that he is from Mindanao--the bailiwick of the Duterte family.

"Well, so being prosecutor is the collective wisdom of the members of Congress.

I was nominated and elected, and after that I took on the role as public prosecutor," Flores told a reporter.

Vice President Duterte was impeached for the second time in two years via nominal vote result of 257-25-9 (yes-no-abstain). Flores was the only one among the 11-member prosecution team who didn't vote "yes" to the adoption of the articles of impeachment.

"There were personal [and] political reasons for abstaining, but it wasn't about the article of impeachment," he said.

When pressed on why he abstained, the Bukidnon solon said, "Again, as I said, it's personal [and] political reasons...It happened before when a public prosecutor also did not vote for the articles of impeachment but was nominated and elected by the House. Again, as I said, I yield to the collective wisdom of the members of the House when they elected me."

Later, Flores admitted that the results of public consultations with his constituents in Bukidnon "played a factor" in his decision to abstain.

"But it wasn't because of the articles of impeachment. I could not in good conscience vote against the articles of impeachment because I was present all along when the Committee on Justice heard the evidence presented," he explained.

At any rate, Flores said that "It cannot be denied that there are a lot of people in Mindanao who are actually for the Vice President."

"That playing a factor, yes, that played a factor also in my considerations whether to vote or not to vote," he noted.

Flores was also picked to be part of the impeachment prosecution team when the House first impeached Duterte in 2025.