ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Luistro responds to Padilla: One-sided prosecution should be expected in impeachment trial

Luistro responds to Padilla: One-sided prosecution should be expected in impeachment trial

Published Jul 22, 2026 10:52 pm

At A Glance

  • Lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro explains that bias is inherent in an adversarial impeachment trial, stressing it would be more surprising if the prosecution were neutral or defended the respondent.
  • Senator Robin Padilla urges the prosecution not to be "one-sided" during Vice President Sara Duterte's trial, questioning the credibility of its witnesses.
  • Post-trial remarks draw support from private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan, who calls Luistro's explanation diplomatic, while Padilla's role is noted as the 2022 Senate top vote-getter with 26.6 million votes.
Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro (left), Senator Robin Padilla (Senate PRIB)
Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro (left), Senator Robin Padilla (Senate PRIB)


Impeachment trial lead prosecutor Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro explained in the most motherly way possible on Wednesday, July 22, why Senator-judge Robin Padilla's appeal for the prosecution panel to avoid being "one-sided" was untenable.
"Sana hindi one-sided ang ating prosecution (I hope our prosecution isn't one-sided)," was perhaps the quote of the day during Wednesday's impeachment hearing against respondent Vice President Sara Duterte.
Padilla directed this statement toward Luistro, as he questioned the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses in the high-stakes trial.
Luistro, a lawyer, seemingly refrained from responding to this point during the proceedings--perhaps out of respect for the proud senator.
But when she was asked about it during the post-trial press conference, she obliged and explained that biases among the involved parties shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
"With all due respect kay Senator-judge Robin Padilla no, apparently this impeachment trial is adversarial. Maliwanag yun (That is clear)," she said with a grin.
"Kaya mayroon (The reason for a) prosecution, it's to establish the case. Kaya may (The reason for a) defense, is to defend the innocence of the respondent, no?
"So it is very much anticipated that the prosecution is biased toward presenting the case, presenting the evidence, no?" said Luistro as she continued her mini-lecture.
To hammer home her point, the Batangueña said: "Siguro mas nakakapagtaka pag naging neutral ang prosecution, at lalong nakakapagtaka kung ide-defend namin yung respondent, no?"
(Perhaps it would be more surprising if the prosecution became neutral, and even more surprising if we defended the respondent, right?)
"So...," Luistro said in an attempt to add something else, but she stifled her last sentence and just bowed her head.
Sitting beside her at the presser was private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan, who commented, "I think Cong Jinkee is very diplomatic with her answer."
Padilla, a former action movie star, received 26,612,434 votes in the 2022 Senate election, making him the top vote-getter in the race.

Related Tags

Impeachment Sara Duterte Robin Padilla senator-judges Gerville \"Jinky Bitrics\" Luistro prosecution defense One-sided
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.