Bicol Saro Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon on Tuesday rejected Vice President Sara Duterte’s claim that there is a “conflict of interest” in his role as House prosecutor in her impeachment trial.
Earlier, Duterte disclosed that Ridon had served as a consultant for the Davao City government previously. Ridon did not deny the claim, saying he acted as a consultant from 2018 to 2020.
“Well, una sa lahat, we confirmed that I was a consultant of the city government of Davao for a particular period, 2018, I think, to 2020. Pero ang tanong ko, e ano naman?” he told reporters during an interview.
The prosecutor said he had not sought the consultancy role, was never Duterte’s personal adviser, and had submitted all required reports on his engagement, contrary to her claim.
“Una sa lahat, ginawa ho natin ‘yung trabaho, at nagsumite ho tayo ng reports until the conclusion of that engagement. And more importantly, I did not seek it. I was asked by one of her advisers to help and provide services,” he explained.
“Pangalawa, I was never a personal adviser of the Vice President. It was clearly on poverty-related matters. More importantly, like what I stated, we’d submitted all the reports, contrary to what she said. It’s in the City Government of Davao files, and it was never disallowed in audit, more than six years after the conclusion of the engagement,” he added.
The lawmaker emphasized that this past role and this present one as a prosecutor in Duterte’s impeachment case, does not overlap.
“At very important po, na linawin din na ang trabaho ko ngayon bilang prosecutor ay iba doon sa trabaho ko po dati. So what is the conflict of interest here?” he said.
Moreover, Ridon said that had he known about Duterte’s alleged unexplained wealth, he might have chosen not to work with her at all.
“What does the Vice President want? Just because you were a consultant, magsusumamo kami sa kanya? Magpapasalamat kami sa kanya dahil tinulungan niya ‘yung buhay ko, ganoon po ba? I don’t think so,” he said.
“Kasi at that time, hindi naman ho natin alam na mayroong ₱4.4 billion in total transactions over the course of 20 years. And if I had known then, probably I would have opted out on that particular engagement,” he added.
Ridon said the prosecution panel refuses to be derailed by this “attack” on its integrity, especially now that they are tackling the issue of her alleged unexplained wealth.
“Again, at the end of the day, the prosecution panel will not be distracted by this attack by the Vice President. We are in the middle of exposing unexplained wealth. We will never be distracted, we’ll continue on up until the very end,” he stated firmly.
“And katulad ng lagi na nating ginagawa, Ma’am ito po ‘yung tissue, punasan niyo po ‘yung luha niyo, kasi ramdam na ho namin ‘yung kaba ngayon pong araw na ito," he added.
During a press briefing in Davao City, Duterte said Ridon served as a local government consultant on poverty alleviation and further claimed that while he was paid to do the job, he did not deliver the expected work.
