Cayetano: Hard to argue legal matters with non-lawyers

Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano during Day 5 of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate of the Philippines in Pasay City on July 14, 2026. Also in photo is Senator-judges Pia Cayetano. INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA MANILA, Philippines — Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano has lamented that it is hard to argue about legal matters with non-lawyers, after he and other members of the Senate Impeachment Court were asked by Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo to take their personal concerns and grievances outside. Right after Tulfo spoke during the resumption of the impeachment trial on Monday, Cayetano made his own manifestation, saying that while he is happy that Tulfo spoke about the injustice against Vice President Sara Duterte, it is useless to argue with a non-lawyer why statements on the integrity of senator-judges are important. Tulfo questioned why some senator-judges are supposedly raising matters unrelated to Duterte’s impeachment trial, saying that this forum should be used to discuss allegations against the Vice President. He raised this concern after Senator-judge Robin Padilla stood up to address a supposedly misleading narrative that he ignored a summons from the Office of the Ombudsman. Article continues after this advertisement “I’m happy I finally heard Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo is concerned about the justice or injustice to Vice President Sara, that’s good news. Regarding the waste of time here, sabi ni (as said by) Senator Joker Arroyo, ‘it is useless to argue a legal point with a non-lawyer’,” Cayetano said. “The impeachment court is formed with lawyers and non-lawyers, and we interact — and it’s for everyone, and we’re equal. But if there’s an engineer here or a doctor, and they talk about medical principles, I have to either study and argue on medical principles. I cannot simply say that this is how it works, you just use logic, et cetera, right?” he added. According to Cayetano, the integrity of the court and its members will always be relevant, which makes Padilla’s concerns worthy of the impeachment court’s attention. “So our legal principle today is simple: integrity of the court. So allow me to mention that to the people and help educate my colleague here. The integrity of the court and the justices or judges is always relevant,” he said. “So if the Supreme Court or Comelec, Court of Tax Appeals, Sandiganbayan is being heard, and the judges are being threatened, you give them time. So we cannot take the impeachment out of context,” Cayetano added. Article continues after this advertisement Cayetano stressed that he was not going to bring up matters related to his feud with fellow senator-judges and other members of the government, but he believes Padilla’s manifestation was warranted because he maintained that claims of him not following the Office of the Ombudsman was wrong. “I wasn’t going to bring that (personal issues) up. But then you will question Senator Padilla? It was all over the news that he supposedly did not attend or that he snubbed the Ombudsman,” Cayetano said in a mix of Filipino and English. Article continues after this advertisement “I was going to stand up before Senator Erwin stood up just to say, there is a registered mail. So from the start […] Senator Padilla just stood up to say that he followed the law. The reason why this dragged on is because it seems the integrity of senator-judges is not important for some,” he added. After Padilla spoke, Tulfo urged his colleagues to use avenues outside of the impeachment court to air their grievances, as the time allocated for the trial should not be wasted over matters not related to the impeachment. READ: Erwin Tulfo to senators-judges: Bring grievances outside impeachment court Padilla was asked by the Ombudsman to show up as it investigates the so-called “escape” of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa from the Senate premises last May 2026. Dela Rosa has a pending arrest order from the International Criminal Court (ICC), and Padilla has been accused of assisting dela Rosa’s move to leave the Senate. READ: Ombudsman: Padilla ‘ignores’ summons on raps over Dela Rosa ‘escape’ But Tulfo said that since the impeachment court was created for the Vice President, matters discussed within it should only be about issues involving Duterte. “This is not the right forum, Mr.Presiding Officer, Mr. President, Senate President. This is not the right place, this court was established, was created, the impeachment court, for the Vice President and Vice President only. This should be her time, this should be her forum, not our forum here where we will air our grievances and answer accusations,” Tulfo said. “And this is not also the time, Mr. President, Mr. Presiding Officer, to find our colleagues whom we cannot see, those who are arrested, this should be done during the Senate session and not here in this court, Mr. Presiding Officer, Mr. Senate President. That’s why my request to the Presiding Officer and Senate President, let us follow the rules,’ he added. Just this July 15, the sixth day of the impeachment trial, the prosecution was asked by Cayetano and his sister, Senator-judge Pia Cayetano — Padilla’s allies — to bring their manifestations outside the court and refrain from making statements that entail conclusions of fact and law. The Cayetano siblings’ request came after counsel for the prosecution Lorna Kapunan announced last Tuesday the prosecution’s decision to pull out the presentation of key witnesses for Article IV, or the grave threats accusations against Duterte. In her announcement, Kapunan made a manifestation saying that the prosecution believes that it has established their case already, which is why they think any testimony from Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, chief-of-staff of the Office of the Vice President, will be redundant. READ: Prosecution won’t present Lopez anymore: Testimony is redundant Then on Wednesday, after the Cayetano siblings’ reminder, Kapunan said that the call of senator-judges for balance should also apply to them. Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful. According to Kapunan, she does not mean to say that the court is biased, but only wanted to note that neither the prosecution nor the defense can object to statements that senator-judges made. /jpv