Senator-judge Vicente “Tito” Sotto III clarified the distinction between an alias and a fictitious name during the 20th day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, September 1.
Sotto raised the matter while the Senate impeachment court was reviewing its journal, saying he wanted to put on record the explanation previously given by prosecution counsel Atty. Mae Divinagracia regarding the use of aliases.
Sotto cited Republic Act No. 6085, which regulates the use of aliases in the Philippines. According to Sotto, the law generally permits pseudonyms for literary, cinema, television, and other entertainment purposes.
“Therefore, if there is a person behind the alias, then it is an alias. If there is no person behind the name, it is a fictitious name or a fake name,” Sotto said.
Sotto also disputed a newspaper report suggesting that Divinagracia had been repeatedly prevented from answering questions during the previous proceedings.
He said he reviewed the trial journal and found that Divinagracia had been allowed to answer most of the questions, although there were one or two instances when she was interrupted.
“Just for the record, for the public and for us, the general rule, Mr. President, that she mentioned is Republic Act 6085, regulating the use of aliases,” Sotto said.
The clarification came amid discussions in the impeachment trial concerning names allegedly used in documents and records related to the confidential funds under scrutiny.
Sotto said his remarks were intended to clarify the record for both the impeachment court and the public as the trial continued.
