Lawmakers hope VP Sara Duterte impeachment trial will start soon
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero (L) and Vice President Sara Duterte (R). | PHOTOS: Senate PRIB and official Facebook page of Inday Sara Duterte
MANILA, Philippines — While they hope that the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte will start soon, lawmakers part of the prosecution panel said on Thursday that they respect the Senate’s discretion on the matter.
Under the 1987 Constitution, if a verified complaint is endorsed or filed by one-third of all House members, which happened on Wednesday, this will “constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”
Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Lorenz Defensor, one of the lawmakers tapped to form the prosecution panel, said they would “respect” how the Senate interprets the term “forthwith” as stated in the Constitution.
“Since the Constitution provides that a trial shall proceed forthwith, if we interpret forthwith, dapat po sana as soon as possible ‘yon (we hope that it will be done as soon as possible). But since the Senate is an independent body and we respect their independence being a bicameral legislature, we will leave that to the interpretation of the Senate,” he added.
Article continues after this advertisementDefensor likened it to a court procedure wherein lawyers do not question decisions from the judge about the reset or scheduling of hearings.
Article continues after this advertisement“I will refuse to comment on how they should act because they will be judges in this impeachment trial. And we accord them with the utmost respect and that they should act with utmost impartiality without any influence from the prosecution or from the respondent or the defendant,” he said.
“As a lawyer, we always follow the court, we always follow the judge. If the judge will reset your case next week or next month for hearing, you follow that, right? And we will do that with the Senate. If the Senate says that we will convene at this hour at this day as lawyers for the prosecution we will follow that, and we will respect that,” he added.
Earlier, Senate President Francis Escudero said there would be no impeachment trial during the session break, as the impeachment court was not convened, and the complaint was not referred to the plenary.
“The impeachment complaint was not referred to the plenary for there to be a basis for the impeachment court, to be convened by the Senate sitting as a legislative body. Hindi muna as an impeachment court (not yet as an impeachment court),” he explained.
READ: No impeachment trial vs VP Duterte during break of Congress – Escudero
On Wednesday, a fourth impeachment complaint was verified and sent to the Senate after 215 lawmakers — or over one-third of the entire House — endorsed it.
Under the 1987 Constitution, an impeachment complaint could be forwarded to the Senate for a trial if over one-third of all House members — 102 out of 306 — signed and endorsed the petition.
READ: House impeaches VP Sara Duterte, fast-tracking transmittal to Senate
Issues cited in the first three impeachment raps against Duterte were used as grounds for the fourth complaint.
Copies of the fourth impeachment complaint showed that there were seven articles of impeachment:
- Betrayal of public trust, commission of high crimes due to her threats to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez
- Betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption due to misuse of the confidential funds of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Office of the Vice President
- Betrayal of public trust and bribery within the DepEd
- Violation of the 1987 Constitution and betrayal of public trust due to unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets
- Commission of high crimes due to involvement in extrajudicial killings in the drug war
- Betrayal of public trust due to alleged destabilization plots and high crimes of sedition and insurrection
- Betrayal of public trust due to her unbecoming conduct as Vice President
