Misleading and another attempt to misinform the public.

That's how House prosecutor Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon framed the online chatter of Vice President Sara Duterte's ongoing Senate impeachment trial being a "waste" of public funds.

Ridon, in a news forum over the weekend, disputes claims that the impeachment trial costs taxpayers millions of pesos a day, saying such figures fail to distinguish between the normal operating expenses of the Senate and costs directly attributable to the proceedings.

“Misleading nga ho ‘yung binabanggit na million-million per day na ginagastos daw para sa impeachment,” he said.

(It is misleading to say that millions per day are supposedly being spent for the impeachment.)

He explained that expenses such as electricity and the Senate’s centralized air-conditioning system would be incurred even if the impeachment court were not in session.

Ridon also rejected suggestions that the funds appropriated to Congress could instead be transferred to agencies providing assistance to poor Filipinos, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Such realignment, he said, would violate the law once the national budget is being implemented.

“Hindi rin naman ho pwedeng ibigay sa DSWD ‘yun pong naitakda na pong pondo para sa Kongreso at Senado. Kapag ginawa ho ‘yun, eh kaso ‘yun. Kaso ho ng Senado at kaso ho sa Kongreso ‘yun ‘pag ginawa po ‘yun, in the middle of budget implementation.”

(It also cannot be diverted to the DSWD, the funds already allocated for Congress and the Senate. If that is done, then it becomes a case. A case in the Senate and a case in Congress if that is done in the middle of budget implementation.)

He stressed that neither the House nor the Senate requested additional funding from the national government to carry out the impeachment proceedings.

“Wala naman hong dagdag na pondo na ginagamit dito po sa paggugol ng trabaho para sa impeachment proceedings, whether ng Kongreso at Senado. Hindi ho humihingi ng dagdag na pondo mula sa kabangbayan para ho magkaroon ng impeachment proceedings,” he added.

(No additional funds are being used here for the work on impeachment proceedings, whether in Congress or the Senate. There is no request for additional funds from the national treasury just to have impeachment proceedings.)

Ridon says the "Sayang ang pera" (Funds are being wasted) argument do not hold water because the trial is being conducted using the regular budgets of the House of Representatives and the Senate, without any additional appropriations.

“Huwag ho nating linlangin ‘yung pong mga tao. Wala hong dagdag pondong ginamit para sa impeachment proceedings, whether at the House level or the Senate level,” said the chairperson of the House Committee on Public Accounts.

(Let us not mislead the people. No additional funds were used for the impeachment proceedings, whether at the House level or the Senate level.)

Ridon stresses that impeachment is a constitutional process, much like committee hearings and plenary sessions of Congress.

“Una sa lahat, constitutional pong proseso ito. Kumbaga in the same manner na pinopondohan ho natin ang pagkakaroon ng mga committee meetings, plenary sessions ng Kongreso at Senado, ganun din po ‘yun. Yun po ang dahilan bakit pinopondohan po ng bayan ‘yung ganito pong mga gawain at gampanin.”

(First of all, this is a constitutional process. In the same manner that we fund committee meetings and plenary sessions of Congress and the Senate, it is the same here. That is the reason why the people’s money supports these kinds of duties and functions.)

He further said: "Hindi ho tayo nagsasayang ng pera dito dahil ito po ay proseso ng pagpapanagot ng mga matataas pong opisyal ng pamahalaan."

(We are not wasting money here because this is a process of holding high government officials accountable.)

Meanwhile, in the same news forum, independent watchdog Bantay Senado urged the Senate impeachment court to keep the trial of Vice President Duterte focused on the evidence supporting the charges.

The group warned against allowing the proceedings to be sidetracked by issues unrelated to the constitutional grounds for impeachment.

Dean Gary Dionisio, head of the Government and Diplomacy Department of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, said the proceedings should remain anchored on the evidence presented before the impeachment court.

Dionisio said Bantay Senado’s monitoring of the impeachment proceedings had identified what the group considered unnecessary questions raised by the defense, as well as some interventions by senator-judges that were not directly related to the evidence.

Dionisio also cited as an example the questioning by Senator-judge Robin Padilla of prosecution witness, Jeremy Lotoc, regional director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), about his knowledge of Islam.

“Hindi ko alam kung ano magiging relevant, halimbawa, kung may alam ka sa isang relihiyon. Halimbawa tinanong si NBI director kung may alam ka sa Islam. I don’t think there is a requirement to become a regional director on particular familiarity on that way kasi investigation naman ang kinakailangan,” he said.

(I don’t know what would be relevant, for example, if you have knowledge of a religion. For instance, if the NBI director is asked whether you know about Islam. I don’t think there is a requirement to become a regional director based on particular familiarity in that way because what is needed is investigation.)

Despite those concerns, Dionisio said some senator-judges had also helped redirect the proceedings to the constitutional issues at the heart of the impeachment trial.