Who is Amando Virgil Ligutan, private prosecutor in Sara Duterte's impeachment trial?

Amando Virgil Descartin Ligutan, known recently as one of the head counsels to the House prosecutors in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, is more than just his quick wits and judicious responses. He wasn’t born to a clan of lawyers. Nor was he ever groomed to take on the reins of a political dynasty. Instead, he was born to Leytehanons Veronica Descartin Ligutan and the late Amando Hanopol Ligutan Jr., and is only the second in his family to become a lawyer. His first job after graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences in the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City in 2004 was teaching Philosophy, according to a March 2004 edition of USC’s campus publication, Today’s Carolinian. He was 21 at the time. Before this, he already had a long list of achievements — valedictorian of Sacred Heart Seminary in Palo, Leyte, founder of the Philosophical Society of Cebu, summa cum laude graduate with an overall grade point average of 1.02, and laureate of USC’s Ten Outstanding Leaders Awards. Humble background aside, it’s Ligutan’s motive for joining the prosecution team that has piqued the interest of those watching the unraveling of Duterte’s impeachment trial. “Seven days after the House of Representatives impeached the Vice President last year, the Sandiganbayan ordered the imprisonment of a public school principal for pocketing P5,000. The school principal is ordered to be imprisoned for 11 years,” Ligutan told reporters on February 9, 2026. Play Video “If, on one hand, we can send to jail a public school principal for pocketing P5,000 for 11 years of imprisonment, can we give a free pass to the Vice President for stealing not one, not two, but P612.5 million?” the lawyer argued. So when he was approached by clergymen to represent them in the filing of the third impeachment complaint against the Vice President, Ligutan couldn’t wait to do it pro bono. The man from Carigara Ligutan was not afraid to flaunt his use of Binisaya during the fourth day of the impeachment trial on Monday, July 13. “Attorney Lotoc, kita magpapadayon inin aton mga paki-ana ngan imo pag-baton hinin akon mga paki-ana,” the lawyer said before the defense flagged his use of the non-English/non-Filipino language. (Attorney Lotoc, we shall continue with our questions and you shall continue responding to my questions.) Ligutan is a lumad (native) of the Municipality of Carigara, the oldest town of Leyte that was established in 1571. “Actually, while there are lawyers in the family — his brother is one, plus an aunt and some cousins — I think it’s more accurate to say that Biw comes from a long line of public servants rather than a long line of lawyers,” Shirlee Alicor Ligutan-Machete, the lawyer’s cousin told Rappler on July 14. Biw is Ligutan’s childhood nickname. According to Machete, it was how Ligutan’s older brother pronounced his sibling’s name when they were toddlers — ”Biwiw.” Most of the Ligutans, Machete said, were government workers, teachers, police officers, and civil servants. “His father, Tiyo Intoy, worked at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), while his mother was a nurse at the Carigara District Hospital. Just ordinary government employees who raised their children well despite having a modest income,” she added. More Cebuano than Tommy O Ligutan passed the Bar in 2009 after earning his Juris Doctor degree at the University of the Philippines College of Law. There, he was a member of the UP Law Jessup Team, which won the 2008 National Moot Court Competition on International Humanitarian Law. Ligutan served as a junior associate at the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala and Cruz (ACCRA) Law Offices before joining SALiGAL Law in Cebu City as a managing partner in 2010. Over the years, he handled the cases of prominent personalities like 2020 Deutsche Welle (DW) Freedom of Speech awardee Maria Victoria “Bambi” Burdeos Beltran and the family of Gisela Bendong-Boniel, the wife killed by Niño Rey Boniel, former mayor of Bien Unido town in Bohol. Ligutan also taught law at the University of the Philippines College of Law, University of San Jose-Recoletos School of Law, and University of Cebu School of Law. “Let me put it this way. Virgil is more Cebuano than Tommy Osmeña,” Cebu City Vice Mayor Tomas “Tommy” Osmeña told Rappler on July 13. According to Osmeña, they have always looked to Ligutan to handle tough cases in Cebu. After years of doing volunteering work with Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK), one of the ruling local political parties in Cebu headed by the Osmeña patriarch, the Vice Mayor said that Ligutan was sought not only for his professionalism, but also his reliability and precision. “If you have a special project, you cannot just get an ordinary person, you get Virgil,” Osmeña said. Apart from being recognized for his role with BO-PK, Ligutan has also been vocal against the Duterte administration and the non-renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise, among other national issues. When asked he thinks about Ligutan’s role in the impeachment trial as counsel for the prosecution, Osmeña said that the lawyer earned the spotlight and has a brighter future ahead. “These are the kind of people we should develop and he should be groomed for bigger responsibilities, even in public service, if he wants to. Why not, no?” Osmeña said. – Rappler.com