DEFENSE STATEMENTS

Defense Speech
President Justine John Jerao

Mr. Presiding Officer, the Members of the Senate, fellow Members of the House, counsels for
the defense and prosecution, my fellow Filipinos, good afternoon.

Two years ago, I ran for the office of the President for I am fully confident that my main objective
is to serve and protect the people. I am fully aware that Article 2, Section 4 states my main
purpose as a running official.

Before that, I was a barangay official, then the captain, then ran for city councilor, elected as
mayor, ran for Congressman then ran and elected as a Senator. With my terms in the office, not
once or even a little bit was I ever accused to do such wrong. I ran with full dignity and purity.
After months, I was elected by the majority of the registered voters of my loved country, the
Philippines. Never have I ever thought that I am being accused by the opposition of treason,
attempted bribery, and even with betrayal of public trust.

Impeachment is a political process, not a political assassination. An impeachment aspires to be

a judicial proceeding that makes imperative that it stick to judicial rules. An impeachment must
ever uphold the due process that no citizen, high or low, can be denied. That is why we wear
judicial robes as you see them, to listen, to ponder, and decide like judges according to law.

I have been vocal for the past years of being a Senator. I stand to speak the truth but w hy am I
being the one accused of doing such crimes?

It is argued by some, however, that insistence on the rule of absolute confidentiality will provide
a safe haven for unruly public officials who will simply conceal their ill-gotten deeds, never to be
reported or declared.

They say that the measures is wrong to adopt the view favoring absolute confidentiality of the
government, and that therefore, I must be convicted.  Well there may exist a danger that corrupt
officials may escape discovery, let us not mistake this use of this interpretation for the possibility
of its abuse.

I further wish to point out that pursuant to the separation of powers, our Constitution rests the
important role of impeachment in Congress hoping that it will act independently in hearing the
impeachment of the officials of the other branches.  Regrettably, we have witnessed the illiterate
behaviors by the majority of the House of Representatives who have given unending doubts
since the start. 

Many officials have been falsely accused in the past and I have not thought that I would see it
again so brazenly performed, but for whatever it is worth, and if not for the law and the
Constitution that we were privileged to restore under Cory Aquino then who are we right now?

That is all, Your Honor, thank you.

Defense Witness 1
President Communications Group Officer Juddeeh Benito

First of all, may I greet the Senate and all currently here a good afternoon, I would also like to
extend my greetings to the Filipino people.

As the president of communications of the President, I bear all information of what the President
does especially the dates and exactly what time.

It is with great purpose that our group is primarily responsible for what is happening the
Executive branch and aims to effectively collect information. We also exist to help Filipinos
understand government policies and programs to shore up support for these.

Fellow Filipinos, I would like to say that the government is effectively trying to rebuild good
governance and aims leadership for all of us. But, this case being blamed unto him has done
the negative and this very big accusation is very shocking.

On the days of June 29, 2018 and September 2, 2018, as mentioned by the two prosecution
witnesses, the president had other matters to attend to. He cannot be accused of being the so-
called mastermind if he had been seen present on other locations.

On June 29, 2018 at the time of 09:02 AM, there were indeed no arrangements made by the
President to meet the Secretary of National Defense, however during that time the President
was in a scheduled meeting. The meeting lasted from that time of 09:02AM to 10:32AM.
However what was discussed during the meeting mentioned was disclosed.

On the date of September 2, 2018, at the time of 8:30AM, a meeting was arranged with the
President as well and I was there during the meeting as well. The meeting lasted for about two
(2) hours which ended at 10:30AM. The content of the meeting was a simple general meeting
and nothing was out of the ordinary. This would invalidate his affiliation with the ambush of the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front causing the death of our men.

With these stated, I would fully stand as a Presidential Communications Group officer that these
allegations against the president is just wrong.
Defense Witness 2
Cabinet Member and Childhood friend of the President Raymond Delicana

May I greet everyone here, the senate and all currently here a good afternoon and as well the
Filipino people.

I have known the President for all my life since childhood and he would never dare to do such a
thing. Everything he does is for the country and with honor. With this honor, he has helped the
development of the country and his countrymen. I do believe with all my heart from the years
that I’ve been with him that he has no part of this terrorism scheme or strengthening the
country’s relationship with China by sacrificing several of our men to do so. It just does not
make sense for him to do so since how would that even work for the betterment of the country.

Moreover, as the undersecretary for police matters under the Department of Interior and Local
Government, we are investigating the situation and ways how to resolve the matter.
Beforehand, we have also been planning our plan of action to eradicate the existing terrorism in
Mindanao. As I repeat, it just does not make sense for him to do so since how would that even
work for the betterment of the country.

Additionally, is it contradictory that when we all pledged for allegiance then we backstab our
very own leader while he is looking away? Loyalty. We are here for loyalty. The President has
nothing to do but serve its people.

I do believe that the President, knowing him since birth cannot do such a thing which is why we
deliberately ignored him as a possible suspect. Moreover, we are trying to capture the people
who are involved and seeing as that the President himself was not present during the
happenings of the crimes and there was no evidence of him being presented to us then we
ruled him out.

That is all.