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.
